Flaming Waters
by LeahSkywanker
Summary: After getting sent flying in the ocean by Aquarius, Lucy emerges in a completely different land. She might meet a fiery friend along the way and learn how much fun life on the high seas can be. (Rated T, may change in later chapters.)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N I just couldn't resist typing this up, it's been on my mind for a couple of weeks so I thought I'd put fingers to keys. This is based before Ace had joined the Whitebeard pirates and is still the captain of the Spade pirates.**

"Natsu, make sure to wake me up if you guys go anywhere, you know how easily I fall asleep in the sun." Lucy had made the decision earlier on in the day to take her team on a spontaneous trip to the best rated beach in Fiore. Granted Natsu wasn't happy with the amount of travel it took to get there but once they had arrived, the views took her breath away. In Lucy's eyes, it was worth the two hours journey from Magnolia to get there. Definitely worth it.

After buying Gray an ice cream and Natsu a hot dog, they soon shut up with their complaints and she could lose herself to the beauty of the beach they were currently occupying. The beautiful cobalt waves were calling to her, she practically lunged for the lapping water, looking like a woman possessed.

When the water hit her skin, she sighed at how wonderful it felt. She loved the ocean. When she was a child, she could only remember a single time that she had been taken to visit the beach. It was by her mother, so she had happy memories of it. It made her extremely fond of the ocean and everything to do with it. It was also the first time Lucy had ever seen her mother summon a celestial spirit. Aquarius, believe it or not, was actually quite pleasant back then and even played with Lucy.

Natsu, his motion sickness quickly forgotten, saw how much fun Lucy was having and soon followed suit. He leaped into the air, landing a belly flopped into the shallow water. He ended up with a sore stomach and made Lucy look like a drowned rat at the same time. He rubbed his crimson belly and stated that she shouldn't of been in the splash zone. She glared at her best friend and trudged back onto the beach, a huge pout on her face as she plopped herself down next to Erza and Wendy.

After being forced into several splashing fights, Lucy had decided that enough was enough. Leaving her team to make their own fun, she grabbed her pink lilo and pushed herself out onto the calm water. _'A little bit of sun bathing will dry me right off.'_ She glared at Gray and Natsu who were getting more erratic with their _'Water guns?'_ She glanced at them with a wary look in her eyes. _'Where the hell did they get water guns from? Sneaky bastard must've packed them when I wasn't looking.'_

"Don't even think about shooting me with those things, I know what you're planning so don't. I've got my eye on you idiots." She shouted at the pair who looked disappointed that they had been caught out already. _'Honestly they're such children.'_ She let out a long yawn at the fatigue that suddenly overwhelmed her. _'Would it hurt if I closed my eyes for a second?'_ Feeling her heavy lids shutting regardless of the answer, she pulled her sunglasses over her eyes to shield them from the harsh UV rays and fell into a dreamless sleep. The voices of her friends became fainter and fainter.

* * *

 _'Ouch what the hell am I stuck to?'_ Rolling over, she screamed in shock as she was enveloped in cold water. Her chestnut eyes shots open and was met with the view of endless water. In every direction, just water. No islands, no boats and no Team Natsu. _'Oh no wait, if I look hard enough I can vaguely see the beach.'_ At least she thought it was the beach, it could just be her eyes playing tricks on her. _'Natsu, that bastard forgot about me, what the hell am I going to do now?'_

It was partly her fault for entrusting such a task with that pink haired fool when there were so many distractions around him, such as beating up Gray for example. Lucy regretted not asking Erza or Wendy to wake her or to keep an eye on her. She climbed back onto her lilo and winced at the contact. The plastic was pulling uncomfortably on her sun burnt skin. Another reason to be angry. _'The only place on me that isn't burnt is my boobs and my bum, thanks a lot Natsu. I'm so done with that flaming idiot.'_

She glanced around just for good measure, just to make sure that she hadn't missed anything that could help her find her way back to shore before she went with her last resort. Feeling down her bare leg, she felt her waterproof key pouch that she kept strapped around her rain or shine.

After so many circumstances where she had taken her keys off for whatever reason and ended up in danger, she decided that keeping them on her at all times was a necessity. She didn't want to have a weak spot anymore that people could exploit.

Lucy hoped that one day she would be strong enough that she wouldn't need her keys to summon her spirits, her sheer willpower would be enough to reach her them and summon them to her world. The keys would be kept in a safe place just to make sure that the contract with them all stayed in place. Her eyes twinkled at the prospect of being such a strong celestial mage. Everybody had to have a dream to keep them going and that was hers. Not too far fetched right?

Pulling off the dreaded key, she scrunched her face up in preparation for what was about to happen as she said the words that probably dug her own grave. She placed the golden object into the ocean below her and hoped for a miracle.

"Open, gate of the water bearer, Aquarius." A large mass of bubbles formed underneath her, like the water was being exposed to extreme heat and couldn't handle it. _'Oh boy, she must be pissed for it to be reacting like that.'_

"What do you want brat? Today isn't one of my days that I'm available. You've got some nerve." Aquarius's pale face broke the surface of the water and glared at her key holder but as soon as her eyes studied Lucy's face, a smile cracked the mermaid spirit's face that soon turned into a mad fit of laughter.

"Oh my god, look at your face." Aquarius held her sides as she rolled around in the water. She flicked her fingers at Lucy's cheek, making the blonde wince in pain, much to her spirits amusement. "You are sporting one hell of a sunburn. I thought you looked uglier than usual." Lucy rolled her eyes at her less than kind words and got straight to the point. "Look, not that you care, I fell asleep on my float, nobody thought to wake me up and I ended up here. I need you to get me back to shore."

Aquarius pressed her face against Lucy's and snarled. "You need? Show some respect for your elders you little brat and ask nicely. I may just think about it if you show some manners." Lucy stuttered out an apology and held her hands up in surrender. _'She's so scary.'_

Lucy's body shuddered at the cool air that had settled around them. Since she was only dressed in her white and pink bikini, it was starting to get pretty damn cold and she had nothing to protect her skin from the harsh breeze. The sun had turned into a orange haze in the distance, warning her that if she didn't get back to land soon, she'd be fish food.

"Okay, here I'll get you back to your little friends." Aquarius's smug face was the last thing she saw, as a huge tidal wave appeared behind her. Lucy stared up at the wall of water that was looming over her and gulped. _'Goodbye cruel world.'_ She hugged her body tightly against her floating lilo and prayed to Mavis that she survived this whole ordeal and if she did, she would make sure kill Natsu. She would give him a slow, painful death.

The huge wave pushed her under the surface of the water but in Aquarius's defense, it did take her in the direction of the shore that she could vaguely see from where she had woken up. Holding her breath, she let the pressure in the lilo pull her to the surface. When she broke through, she gasped for precious air and coughed as some salt water had gone up her nose and was it stinging like a bitch.

"Motherfucker that hurts, everything stings. Mavis help me." She exclaimed as she turned to face the shore, she was floored at the endless sea she was faced with. Now she couldn't see anything at all. Just dark waters. The sun had set and left her alone in the dark. She squealed when she felt something brush up against her calf.

 _'Sea monsters?'_ She thought, trying to swallow the feeling of panic that was clawing its way up her throat. "I don't want to die." She cried out as she started to paddle with her arms, towards anything. Just so she wasn't near the monsters hidden beneath the water anymore. She couldn't kid herself and say that it was probably just a piece of seaweed. She was in the middle of the ocean, seaweed didn't grow that long.

"It's so dark, just don't look down Lucy." She was mumbling to herself, trying to keep herself calm. After what felt like hours, her arms had gone numb from the water. She collapsed against her float and closed her eyes. _'I'm going to die a virgin. A sun burnt virgin.'_

A ripple in the water wobbled her, pulling her out of her pity party. She grasped onto the edges of the lilo as her eyes shot open. The waves were almost throwing her off her lilo. There, on her right hand side was a ginormous ship. She squealed in delight and started to shout at the top of her lungs, attempting to get the attention of anybody on board. She waved her hands in desperation until a rope ladder was thrown down the side of the ship and it waited for her to climb aboard.

She made a prayer motion before she grabbed the ladder and pulled herself up onto the deck. _'I'm saved.'_

"Well well, what do we have here?"

* * *

 _'How the hell did this happen?'_ Lucy pressed her face against the metal bars of the cell she had been placed in. It reeked of mold and ale, making it hard for Lucy not to retch. If she had anything in her stomach it would've come out by now, that she was certain of.

After she had climbed aboard, several swords were pointed at her and she was interrogated. It turns out that this was a pirate ship and she was far from safe. They thought she was here for less than pure reasons. Whatever they were thinking was wrong.

Lucy attempted to tell them that she had simply strayed too far from the coast and had gotten stuck out here but that just resulted in all of them laughing at her. One of the members stepped forward and smirked down at her, "Sweetie, we're not even slightly near any islands, you're a liar. Take her downstairs. She'll have to wait until _he's_ back." Then they had slung her in the brig to wait until their captain returned to decide what they would do with her.

"It's so fricking cold." Lucy mumbled to herself as she tried to cover her almost naked body with her arms. All she wanted was a nice hot bath and to cuddle up in bed with a book. She wasn't even aware that pirates still existed but here they were in the flesh, threatening to kill her. The floor of the cell she was being kept in was wet and stick so she didn't want to touch it. She didn't even have any shoes on. Her eyes started to fill with tears as the predicament she was in started to really sink in.

A soft glow radiated from the corner of the room, making the air a hell of a lot warmer. Thinking it was Natsu, she blinked away the tears that had accumulated and got angry, really angry. _'Was this whole thing just a big joke?'_

"Natsu, this isn't funny. I'm in my bikini and freezing my ass off. If this is a joke, cut it out. I want to go home now."

A soft tut sounded. "I don't know who this Natsu is, but this certainly isn't a joke darling. Now, care to tell me what you're doing on my ship?" The gentleman increased the light, Lucy noticed that it was a flame growing from his hand. No it wasn't growing from his hand, it was his hand. She growled and held the prison bars tightly in her hands, momentarily forgetting how disgustingly grubby they were.

"My name's Lucy and I don't know what I'm doing here. Who the hell are you?"

He bent down in front of her cell and leant his forearms against his thighs. His face was hidden by a leather hat that had two smiling faces pinned on the front of it. Lucy stared at their smirking faces and instantly wanted to punch them. It was like they were mocking her. He lifted a flaming finger and pushed the hat further up his head to reveal his face. Lucy was taken aback, completely at a loss for words at what she saw.

She was expecting a grubby old man that stunk of booze but instead she was faced with a handsome male. His face was rugged and manly, except for a splash of freckles over his cheeks that gave him a boyish charm. A dangerous mix.

He grinned at the blonde girl and tilted his head to the side, examining her face. "My name is Ace, I'm the captain of this vessel."

 _'Ah, so I got an audience with the captain. How lucky of me.'_

"Okay so you can see I don't mean any ill will for any of you so called pirates, so if you could just drop me off at the nearest port I'd be happy to pay you once I get back to Magnolia." She noticed that Ace's face scrunched up. "Magnolia? I've never heard of that place. Where abouts is it located?"

 _'Is he serious? I know we're on the east side of Fiore but it's not as if Magnolia is a tiny little village. He must be taking the piss out of me.' "_ I'm bored of these jokes now, just drop me off anywhere as long as it's in Fiore and I'll find my way home."

Now he looked downright confused and it didn't look like he was faking it. A feeling of dread settled in Lucy's stomach as she listened to the words that left Ace's mouth. "We're in the east blue, I've never heard of a place called Fiore." His eyes examined her face for any signs that she was lying or withholding anything, when he found nothing his face softened and his tone of voice changed. "How did you get here sweetheart?"

 _'Oh no, I'm going down. The floor is so gross'_ Lucy's vision started to darken as the shock of the situation she was in caused her to black out. Her limp body hit the floor with a fleshy smack, the last thing she heard was the bars of her cage being yanked open and his soft voice comforting her.

"We'll get you home, you're not dangerous. Just lost."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Morenoel, Kamencolin, Yo. Thank you for the reviews. Onto chapter two!**

Natsu paced the length of the shore, practically pulling his hair out piece by piece as he waited for Gray to return from the path of ice he had created. The trail led out into the ocean to get further out to sea with ease so they could check everywhere. It was easier than struggling to swim out there. Being in the cold water obviously wouldn't bother the ice mage but the tide was becoming stronger by the minute and even he wasn't that good of a swimmer. Lucy had to be somewhere.

"I can't see her anywhere Natsu. Are you sure she didn't just leave without us?" Gray slid back down the ice trail as it melted back into the ocean. Natsu inhaled deeply, trying desperately to catch Lucy's scent but came up with nothing. It was like she had just vanished into thin air. He could see Erza returning from the far side of the beach with Wendy in tow, a disappointed look evident on their faces. They had been searching for two hours and they'd come up with nothing.

"No sign of her further down the beach. The sand hasn't been disturbed anywhere. We're the only people that have been here today, I'm certain of that." Erza placed her hand on Wendy's head, trying to calm her down. People didn't just disappear into thin air. _'Lucy, where are you?'_

* * *

 _'Why is the room moving.'_

Peeking through half closed eyes, she realized that her room was slowly rocking. Shooting up, her head smacked against a low beam and she let out a roar of pain. She glared at the beam as a steady pulse settled in between her eyes at the impact, she lifted her hand up to hold the tender flesh. As she held her head, she took the opportunity to scan the room she was in, absolutely nothing was familiar. It definitely wasn't her bedroom. Too manly. And wooden.

Heavy footsteps approached the room, then a gentle tapping on the door. "Lucy, are you alright in there? I'm coming in."

 _'That voice. Did I hear it in my dream? It's vaguely familiar.'_

The door slowly cracked opened revealing the handsome face of the pirate captain she thought had been a figment of her imagination. That meant. _'This is really happening.'_

He shot forward as soon as he saw the color drain out of Lucy's face and she started to slump forward. He reached the bed in record speed and her body fell against his lap. "Hey now, you're alright. Nothing to be scared of. Can you talk?"

She attempted to get her voice box to work but a croak resembling a frog left her lips instead. Her hand flew up to cover her mouth out of sheer embarrassment. Ace chuckled, revealing a glass of water from behind his back. "Take a sip of this and let's try that again." His kind eyes encouraged her to sit up and take the glass from his fingers. The water left a cool soothing trail down her throat, she had to hold back a moan at the freshness of it.

"That is delicious." She sighed as she drained the last few drops and pouted when there was nothing left. Ace leaned forward to examine Lucy's now bruised head, he was so close. She could count the individual freckles spattered on his cheeks. _'One, two, three-'_

Something cold pressed against her forehead, it gave her instant relief from the dull ache that had settled there. Her gaze rose up from his freckles to his eyes, they followed a droplet of water that slowly trickled down her cheek and dripped onto his lap.

"Um, thank you for this." She gestured to the wet cloth on her head. "I didn't realize there would be something placed directly above my head y'know. That's dangerous, someone should really raise the roof up in here."

His fist shot out at the beam, grasped it tightly as his skin started to flicker away, being replaced by the angry tongues of fire. They licked off his skin and consumed the wood, crackling as it reduced it to nothing but ash. Lucy rolled off the bed and gave him a look like 'Are you fucking crazy?'

"We're on a wooden boat and you're playing with fire? Honestly you're worse than Nat-" _'Natsu.'_ She thought sadly, the idiotic actions of Ace soon forgotten. _'I don't know where I am, I don't know who I'm with.'_

"Here." He said softly, placing a shirt around her shoulders, his shirt. It was warm from the heat of his body and it smelt heavenly. She tried not to sniff the material as that might be considered a bit strange. It just smelt so similar to Natsu, it made her feel completely at ease.

"You're still just in a bikini, albeit a very flattering one. Here, I've got some spare shorts too." She watched him walk over to a small cabinet and pull out a pair of shorts that were almost identical to the ones he was wearing, in size too. She pointed to his waist and then to hers "I don't think those are going to fit me buddy." The shirt fit okay because her large breasts held it up a bit. She only buttoned it halfway up and left the top bit uncovered then held her hands out for the shorts.

"Nope, step into them and I'll make them fit. You might have a concussion, don't want you falling over and hitting your head again. You're not used to being on a ship and the rocking can sometimes be too much for your land legs to handle." She stared at him, a grumpy look on her face. _'This guy thinks he knows it all. I'm perfectly capable of putting on a pair of shorts.'_

The ship suddenly jolted to the left causing her to go flying forward, into his chest. His point had been proven, he hadn't moved an inch. She pouted at the floor but lifted up one leg and let him lead it into the shorts, once they were pulled up her body he burst out laughing. Lucy looked like a small female version of him and she wasn't happy about it in the slightest.

"Sorry for the ridiculous clothes, we don't get many ladies on our ship and you're really tiny. My clothes are used to accommodating to a much bigger body. We need to get some meat on your bones sweetheart." He wrapped a piece of rope he had in his hands around her waist and tied it, pulling it straight so it was tight enough to keep the baggy trousers fixed to her body.

"This will have to do. Let me know if it's too tight. We don't want any of the crew to see your lady parts now do we. They're not as much of a gentleman as their captain." He finished that with a wink causing her to blush madly.

This guy was a serious player, he knew all the right things to say and how to say them. It was safe to say that it was driving Lucy crazy. She'd never met anyone like him before. Sure she knew players like Hibiki but he was a boy. Ace was all man.

But she refused to believe that he was a genuine person. There was no way someone was this nice without wanting something in return. She crossed her arms and pulled her most serious face. "Okay mister what do you want? You're looking after me like I'm you're little sister. What's up with that?" He leant his head to the side, a quizzical look on his face. "I certainly don't see you as a sister. Not with looks like that." He raised his eyebrows up and down, clearly teasing her and enjoying it. _'Here we go again.'_

"But no seriously, if somebody needs help, who am I to turn them away? That's not how I was brought up. I may be a pirate but I'm not a bad person. Pirates just have a bad rep."

 _'Well yeah pirates are known for pillaging, raping and killing.'_

"Now do you want to start from the beginning?" He sat down on the bed but soon remembered about all of the burnt wood that had fallen onto the covers. "Ah, let's go find another place to talk. I'll clean this up later." He rubbed the back of his head and grinned, seemingly embarrassed at his rash decision to burn the beam that had injured her. "At least you won't bang your head again."

* * *

"Okay so let me get this straight, you're from somewhere called Magnolia that's in somewhere called Fiore? You're a celestial mage and it was because of one of your spirits that you ended up in our world?" Ace stared at her face for a few seconds and frowned. He placed his hand on her head, attempting to check her temperature. "Lucy that makes no sense. Are you sure you didn't bag your head a little too hard earlier? We can get the doc to check you over."

She slapped away his hand and huffed loudly. "I am not crazy okay. I'll prove it." Yanking up her key-chain, she tried to summon her easiest spirit and hoped that her magic still worked in this strange place. "Open gate of the Canis Minor, Nikora."

She felt her magic spread into the key and then return back into her hand and fizzle out. _'Okay now I definitely look crazy. A crazy person with some decorative keys.'_ She crookedly smiled at Ace and returned the key to her pouch. "Okay something's wrong with this place. You clearly have magic here, I mean you can manifest your own fire."

He nodded and turned his hand into a ball of fire. "I got this power from a devil fruit called flame flame. It has a major drawback though." He mumbled the rest of his words. Lucy raised her eyebrow and slapped his naked back. "What was that, I didn't quite catch it." He peeked up at her and sighed "I can't swim. Devil fruits give you amazing powers but it takes away your ability to swim. It completely immobilizes the user if they fall into water, basically sea water and people who have eaten a devil fruit is a no no."

Silence. Lucy left him with silence for a few seconds and then fell into a fit of laughter. She gasped for breath as she tried to talk. "You're a pirate but-" She held her stomach to keep the laughing fit from escaping. "-But you can't swim? What a cruel fate." Wiping a tear from her eye, she took a few calming breaths and composed herself. "My magic just drains me, wait." A light bulb went off in her head at why her magic wasn't working. "What day is it?" She violently shook Ace by his shoulders until he replied.

"It's Monday." He exclaimed, pushing her hands off his shoulders, giving her a slightly frightened look. She cackled manically and reached for another key. "It's Monday, he doesn't come out on Mondays. Silly me."

Plue didn't do Mondays. _'That must be why it didn't work. Even if Plue sensed I was in danger he'd still refuse to come out, not that he'd be much help anyway.'_ Grabbing another key, she sent a pulse of magic into it and it responded, returning the magic and opening the path for her spirit to travel through. Ace was rendered speechless as he watched a pink haired maid walk out from the glowing light. "Holy shit, you weren't fucking around." He whispered, completely in awe.

"Hello princess. What can I help you with?" Lucy stuck her tongue out at Ace and smiled proudly. "Virgo, I can't summon Grandpa Crux until tomorrow so I thought I'd ask you if you'd ever heard of a place called east blue?" Her face dropped when Virgo shook her head. "I sensed we were not in Fiore anymore but I am not familiar with this plane. If I may ask, how did you find yourself here?"

Lucy pulled a sour face "Aquarius sent me flying with a tidal wave in the middle of the sea, I got pushed under and when I resurfaced, I was here. I don't understand it."

"We'll figure this out Lucy, don't worry." Ace tapped his finger on his chin, deep in thought. "Why don't we go get some food and then tomorrow we'll get that Crux fellow to help un-riddle this mystery. How does that sound?" He held out his hand and waited patiently.

Lucy's stomach grumbled loudly at the mention of food, she hadn't eaten anything in two days so it was safe to say she was ravenous. She nodded and placed her hand in his, it was rough and warm. _'I feel safe here with him, I suppose one more day wouldn't hurt.'_


	3. Chapter 3

"You're kidding. He sounds exactly like my best friend." Lucy wobbled slightly and then fell backwards off her chair in a fit of drunken laughter as Ace told her story after story of his younger brother whose resemblance to Natsu was uncanny.

His description of him was careless, fearless and apparently very idiotic but she could tell that Ace cared deeply for him just like she did for Natsu. As she was an only child, it was nice to hear stories of what it was like growing up with a younger brother to play with and to look out for.

"So in the end I left for a life on the sea and he's still there at our village. Luffy's a sweet kid but when the sea beckons, you heed its call. He understands that and soon he'll be out here too, with his own ship and his own crew."

Lucy peered up at Ace from her position on the floor, his face was flush from the strange alcohol they had been drinking, he had been praising the special brew they had on board so she took him up on a taste. Turns out it was just as delicious as he had said. One thing led to another and here they were, sat in the ship's kitchen space below deck sharing stories with one and other.

"Aren't you going to invite him to be a member of your crew?" She frowned when he barked out a laugh and shook his head from side to side. "No way." Ace started chanting no as his face became deadly serious "He and I have the same goal. It's a race to see who gets there first, I had a head start so I'm going to win, obviously."

 _'The same goal?'_ "And what goal would that be?" He smirked as his fist erupted in flames. "Simple, to become the king of the pirates." Lucy spat out her drink and started to choke as some of the fluid had slid down her windpipe. Ace smacked her back to try and encourage her to cough it up, whilst laughing at her beet red face.

"Y'know." Ace said, hiccuping slightly as he spoke. "It's past Midnight if you want to try and get that Crux fellow out? The sooner you get home the better right? I bet this is all a bit too much for you. Not that I'm not loving your presence on my ship." Lucy jumped up, her face still a deep crimson and raised her fist to the sky. "You're right Ace, let's go up and get him to explain things. To the upper deck. I need the space." Ace chuckled quietly as he followed the tipsy blonde past his crew mates and up the stairs into the night air.

She was still wearing the outfit he had given her of his shorts and shirt. Despite what he had said, it wasn't because they didn't have any clothes on board her size, being pirates, from time to time they would have women on board the ship and some of them would leave some of their clothes behind. The reason he lied was simple enough, he didn't want people looking at her the way he did. They wouldn't be interested in Lucy if they saw her swamped in his clothes, she would be safe this way. He trusted his crew but not around women, especially one as sweet and innocent as her.

* * *

"I don't think I did that right." Lucy scratched her chin as she watched Plue dance around the boat in front of her and Ace. The pirate captain, it turned out, was extremely frightened of her little dog spirit, claiming that it was unnatural and freaky. Lucy huffed loudly and pointed to his body. "You can turn yourself into a fiery inferno and you're calling him unnatural? C'mon Captain, get real."

"Oh my god, what is that." A passing crew member's eyes practically bulged out of his head when he saw Plue's small figure twirling around. He knelt on the floor and opened his arms, Plue being Plue ran into his embrace and started babbling nonsense as the pirate cooed over how cute he was. "You are just adorable. Are you hungry? Uncle Slough will make you some food, oh yes he will." The man who she could only assume was called Slough walked through the cabin doors with Plue chattering in his ear and disappeared below.

Ace and Lucy watched the spot where her spirit had been abducted from, looked at each other in shock and then fell into fits of laughter. Ace wiped the tears that had escaped his eyes and let out a sharp exhale. "That is the most emotionless guy I have ever had the pleasure of having on my crew and he-" Ace had to stop talking as another wave of laughter rippled through his body. "-He about cried when he saw your spirit, I never knew he had such a soft side."

Lucy smiled softly, she hadn't laughed like that in years. Her stomach muscles ached in the best way. She had never quite realized how little she had been smiling recently until she stretched out her cheeks with how much this man beside her was making her laugh. She had only known him for less than a day but it felt like a lifetime.

"You're a very like able person aren't you, Captain Ace." Lucy did a mock salute as she spoke, addressing Ace as she thought his crew mates would which made him start laughing again. "Actually, you're the first person who I have acted like this with in a long time. You're the like able one sweetheart." He then did a salute towards her. Her heart warmed at the action.

"I don't think I should summon Crux until I'm fully sober. Knowing my luck, I'll end up summoning Aquarius next." She grimaced at the thought of summoning her, she'd probably send her flying to another world, one without a sweet pirate like Ace. That was a thing that she was overly keen on happening. Right now, she was happy. She wanted to enjoy it.

"Ace, I'm certain you'll become king of the pirates some day." He rolled onto his side and gazed at her face, his eyes were glazed over as he graced her with a toothy smile, one that reminded her of her hot headed best friend. "Thanks Luce."

* * *

 _'My head feels like it's going to split open, what the hell.'_ Lucy groaned loudly as the rocking of the boat she was currently occupying threatened to empty her stomach. She felt like Natsu whenever he got on anything that moved.

"Stop moving the bed, unless you want me to be sick on you." A man's voice came from underneath the covers, she yanked the quilt back, saw Ace's handsome face and then recovered it.

"Sorry Ace." She managed to squeak out, then she lay back under the covers. Thankfully they were both still partly clothed, just hungover to hell. Lucy pressed her face against her pillow which had a delicious scent embedded in it. "What happened last night?" She mumbled against the material.

Ace stretched out his body and sighed happily. "We got very drunk, you were talking about the stars and how all of the constellations here were different to where you're from. You're quite adorable when you're drunk." Lucy smacked his arm as he laughed at how easy it was to embarrass her.

"Ah look at that, you can be adorable even when you're hungover. That is very rare. Most people just bite heads off and puke. I like you Lucy."

"Yeah okay well I'm going to go and talk to Crux, catch you later." _'He liked her, what does that mean?'_ Ace shouted his goodbyes as she escaped to a secluded part of the ship. As it was fairly early still, most of the pirates on board were still passed out from last nights antics, or she hoped so anyway.

Triple checking that it was actually Crux's key that she was using this time. _'Please help me grandpa.'_

* * *

After managing to get out of bed, Ace grabbed his hat off the floor and plodded out of his bedroom. He sleepily walked around his ship on a search for his newest acquaintance, getting the odd 'good morning' from his crew mates as he passed. After Lucy's disappearance this morning he was a little bit wary about where she had wandered off to and decided to come and find her.

"-So what you're saying is that I'm basically fucked?" Ace pressed himself against the edge of the doorway he was about to pass through, peeking his head around the corner, he saw his missing princess. Lucy was sprawled on the deck, staring at a weird floating cross with a face. _'Is he sleeping?'_

The cross snorted and opened his eyes. "No little master, you are not. You must simply wait until the tear in time that you were sent through reappears, since you went through it on a full moon, you will need to return through it when the moon is full. That is not for another 29 days."

Lucy ran her fingers through her tangled hair, worry etched on her face. "Do you know where the tear will appear? I couldn't possibly remember where I came through, it was in the middle of the ocean and this ship has been constantly moving, we'd be miles away from it."

Crux laughed at her words, not concerned at all apparently. "If you don't go to it, it will come to you. Bye now." Then he disappeared in a poof of smoke, leaving the blonde confused and alone.

"What the hell does that mean? Dammit Grandpa." Lucy mumbled to herself as she unbuttoned her shirt and removed it from her body. _'Wait what the hell is she doing?'_

"Hey no, keep your clothes on lady." Ace barged through the door and rushed over to Lucy, pulling the shirt around her bikini covered chest and glared around to see if anybody was on the deck.

"What are you doing Ace? Sunbathing makes me feel better. Vitamin D makes you happy and I need some of that right now." She raised her eyebrow up at Ace as he grasped the material of the shirt, only succeeding in squishing her breasts together and not really covering them.

"You're squishing them Ace. Were you spying on me just now?" He released them quickly and took a step back, trying to get his head around what the hell was happening.

"No I wasn't, well yes I was but not in a creepy way. There's a lot of men on here that would like to look at what you're offering and-"

Lucy held her finger up to silence him and let the material fall off her body again. "Do you not think I can handle myself Captain? I am a member of one of the strongest guilds in Fiore. I think I can handle a few randy pirates. Not that any of them have given me any bother, have some faith in your crew."

Seeing that he was fighting a losing battle he decided to quit while he was ahead, Lucy acknowledged his defeat by laying the shirt on the floor and lying on top of it, sighing happily when the sun started to warm her torso.

"So you're fucked huh?" Ace grinned at her as she grinned back. "Guess you're stuck with me for a bit longer Cap, is that alright?"

Tipping the front of his hat towards her, he tutted. "I suppose I could make room for you on my crew, welcome to the Spade Pirates Lucy."


	4. Chapter 4

After officially joining Ace's crew, the spade pirates, Lucy was finally introduced to his right hand man and the rest of his crew members. They had put together a small welcoming party for her, since she was the first female crew member, it was sort of a big deal for them. Also it was another excuse for them to have a party and get drunk. They were very similar to Fairy Tail in that sense, it was something she was familiar with.

Some people were not overly pleased about her joining though and they wanted to make that known.

Lucy, Ace and his first mate Samson were sat at their own table in the canteen area of the ship digging into a huge feast that had been prepared for the crew. It was mouthwateringly delicious, she would have to thank the cook personally for creating such a tasty dish for them all.

Ace and Samson were tittering about something when a loud voice echoed across the room, shutting everyone up and capturing their attention.

"I thought we kept whores in our bed, not in our crew." Ace's laughter cut off as he slowly rose to his feet to discover the source of the comment. He pushed his signature hat up further his head and glared at his fellow pirates.

"Now boys, who would you want to say such a thing about our newest recruit? Speak up." A rather large, greasy looking man stood up from the opposite side of the room, he was what Lucy would imagine a pirate to look like, disgusting. He pointed a grubby looking finger at Lucy and spat on the floor.

"Since when were your bitches allowed to become one of us? This ship is a joke and so are you." He ripped off the bandana he was wearing that had the spade pirates emblem on and flicked it onto the table in front of him. " _Fire Fist Ace?_ Pathetic."

Ace's body roared in flames as he propelled himself across the room and stared down at the man that was bad mouthing him and Lucy in front of his crew. Ace's face appeared through the flames as he reached down for the bandana he had ripped off and grasped in his hand. "No need to get so worked up Bando, feel free to leave and take one of the small boats to get to a nearby island. Just don't interrupt the party next time okay?"

And that was that. No violence, just a simple dismissal. Lucy stared in awe at how incredibly well Ace handled the situation and continued to stare at him when he rejoined the table and resumed eating from his giant plate of food. The man could eat, he put Natsu to shame. Lucy stared at Ace's stomach and wondered where he put all of the food he consumed, his abs looked rock solid.

The man called Bando smashed his fist against his table, clearly unhappy at not getting a reaction out of his former captain and screamed at Ace's back.

"Did you not hear me? Are you deaf as well as stupid? I said-" Cutting the man off, Ace made a gun with his fingers, pointed at the man over his shoulder and as he pulled his thumb down, a fireball shot from his digits, hitting Bando square between the eyes.

A pathetic screech that sounded similar to a dying cat came from the pirate as he fell to the floor. Nobody went to his aid, they all ignored his cries and returned to their own conversations. He was not their brother anymore.

Lucy watched as Bando scurried up the stairs, his forehead looked slightly singed but not burnt. _'That must've just been for show, to scare him off. This guy just keeps surprising me.'_

"Sorry about that sweetheart, some people just take longer than others to show their true colors." Ace pointed with a chicken bone to Bando's retreating form as it disappeared from sight. "That guy is not what a pirate is about, it's not what being a member of my crew is about. Being respectful where it's due is important. I'm sorry if he's ruined your night."

Samson slapped Ace on the back of his head, knocking his hat down to cover his face. "She's fine Ace, look at her, she's a tough cookie." Lucy laughed as she leant across the table to push Ace's hat back up, mostly just so she could see his attractive face again.

She poked the rim with her finger and smiled. "I'm fine, somebody calling me a whore is hardly offensive is it?"

Ace let out a hearty laugh, clearly happy with her answer and dropped the topic, replacing it with something equally interesting. "So, now that you're a member of my crew, don't you think you should get a tattoo of the spade's flag on you?" Samson started to say something but Ace kicked his shin under the table, successfully silencing him.

"We've got a guy on board that can do it for you, make it official y'know?" Lucy knew that he was only joking but she was shocked that she was actually considering it.

She had looked at Ace's tattoo quite a lot and had always wondered if someone had just spelt his name wrong when they had done it considering his name was spelt with a c and there was a crossed out s. This was the perfect opportunity to ask.

"Why does your tattoo have a crossed out s? Did someone misspell your name when doing it?" She blanched slightly when she saw his face drop, the smile falling from his face, replaced with a haunted look. It made her wish that she hadn't mentioned anything. His hand moved to his arm and rubbed the inked skin, caressing the letter s.

"It's in memory of someone very special to me, someone who I miss dearly." Feeling himself slip into memories he didn't want to, Ace laughed it off and started eating again. "Don't change the subject missy, very sneaky."

 _'It's clearly a sore subject for him, if he misses them, does that mean they're dead?'_ Lucy shoved her curiosity away and did something that shocked herself and Ace. "Okay I'll get it tattoo'd on me, but only if it's on my stomach." Lifting up the shirt Ace had forced on her, she pointed to the bare area above her belly button.

"Right here, so where's the guy that can do it? I want it done tonight." Ace called over a pirate and pointed to Lucy. "This one wants the emblem doc, can you fix it on her for me?" Hearing a glass being placed in front of her, she looked at the large shot glass filled with an amber liquid and looked back at the doc, curious at his action.

"Drink up girl, you're going to need it."

* * *

Several pain filled hours later, Lucy's stomach was red raw but had a colorful image on it. _'I got a pirate flag tattoo'd on me, oh what would my mother think if she could see me_ now.'

Lucy giggled as Ace carried her up to bed. "I can't believe you actually got it tattoo'd on you, you're crazier than I thought. I was sure as soon as I called him over you'd bail. What a crazy mother fucker." Lucy must've drunk enough to knock out a horse, that was the problem with not having any pain relief. She had to improvise.

"I'm supposed to be looking after you while you're stuck here." Ace shook his head as Lucy lifted up her top to stare at her newest addition to her body. "I feel like I'm a bad influence on you. I'll just have to be on my best behavior from now on. Dadan would kill me if she knew I'd let something bad happen to someone as sweet as you."

Lucy poked the soft, tender skin as Ace had a conversation with himself about what was right and what was wrong. She'd never been happier. Glancing at her Fairy Tail emblem on the back of her hand, she had an idea about how to cheer up Ace.

"This isn't my first tattoo so stop beating yourself up." She shoved her hand against the fiery man's face, showing him the pink colored skin there. "See? I'm a member of Fairy Tail too." She chuckled as she relaxed her neck and stared at the ceiling. "And now I'm a member of the Spade Pirates. I'm really happy."

Ace's face softened as he kissed the back of her hand where her guild mark was, his lips were soft as they fluttered over her skin. "I'm happy too."

He really wasn't used to being so comfortable and open with someone after knowing them for less than a week but he was a sucker for someone that needed looking after. He could keep her safe, he would keep her safe. He tried not to think about if-

 _'No, when.'_ When she would return to her own world. She was like an angel that fell from the sky. Maybe calling her a fairy would be more accurate actually.

* * *

"Captain." Someone knocked loudly on Ace's bedroom door, disrupting his sleep and making him extremely grouchy. _'Maybe if I ignore them they'll-'_

"Boss, it's important. Don't think about ignoring me." Letting out a sound of frustration at their god damn persistence, he pulled himself away from Lucy's warmth and into the cool air of his room.

"I wasn't ready to get up yet, what's the point of being captain if I can't have a lie in." Ace continued grumbling until he reached the door. Cracking it open slightly, he looked through the gap with a narrowed eye. "What do you want Samson? Don't you know your captain needs his beauty sleep."

His first mate rubbed his neck, an uncomfortable look on his face as he tried to think of way to put what he was trying to say. "Dadan."

Ace raised his left eyebrow, clearly confused. "Dadan? What the hell do you mean Dadan? Where is she?"

Samson shook his head and let out a short laugh. "We docked at the nearest island last night when you and Lucy went to bed. Sorry man, we're at Dawn Island."

"Ace get your butt out here." A booming voice that he hadn't heard in just over a year echo'd across his ship, a voice that burst his eardrums more times than he could count when he was a child. His adoptive mother.

 _'Oh shit.'_

"Ace, what was that?" Slamming the door shut, Ace pressed his back against the wooden frame and tried to think of a way that he could escape, any way at all.

 **Bang bang bang.**

"I know you're in there Ace, get your skinny butt out here." Dadan had cornered him. Ace smiled crookedly at Lucy. "You're about to meet the woman who raised me, good luck."


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N I do try my best to keep all things accurate, such as ages of the characters etc but not everything in this story will be identical to the manga, obviously because lovely Lucy is in it. Also, sorry for the wait on this chapter. Thank you for all of the follows._

"She's **where**?" Natsu's puzzled voice rang through Fairy Tail's guild hall which earnt him a swift slap around his head from Erza. Levy adjusted her gale force glasses and sighed heavily.

"According to this book, which by the way was the only one I could find about this sort of thing, when heavy amounts of celestial magic are present, the force of it can rip open a hidden tear between our world and another and suck through anybody near it. Gray, you said that you saw a flash out at sea, that would have been the tear closing."

Levy glanced up and the confused faces of her friends and laughed softly. "Don't worry about the reason why it happened, all you need to know is that it is possible that we can see Lu again. With a strong enough celestial spirit, we can reopen the tear. We just have to find someone who is willing to go through to find her and risk not being able to return back here."

Levy tapped her fingers on the book's leather cover, clearly getting irritated at feeling so useless. "There's nothing in here about coming back so I really don't know what to suggest-"

"Well that's just great, when I travel through the tear, she's going to kick me right back through it." Ruffling his pink hair, Natsu pouted and crossed his arms tightly across his chest. "But still, I miss those kicks."

"We all miss her Natsu." Gray tapped him gently on his shoulder, causing a blush as pink as his hair to cover his cheeks. "I do not miss her, what? Shut up Gray, fight me."

Pushing the ice make mage over, Natsu barreled him with punches, trying to hide the fact that his eyes were filling up with unshed tears.

Erza locked eyes with Gray and nodded her head at him, silently telling him to play along with Natsu for the time being, he needed something to take his mind off the guilt of losing Lucy.

Fighting was his obvious choice of blocking things out and Gray could easily help him with that. Erza ignored the fighting and focused her attention solely on Levy.

"Natsu, Gray and myself will go through the tear, it is our fault she is there to begin with so it is only right that we bring her home. What about getting a celestial mage to open it? Who would be willing to do that with the risk of being sucked in along with us?"

"The only person who I could think of would be Yukino. She wouldn't have to be on the beach with you when the tear is opened. She could just summon one of her spirits and have them accompany you."

Erza nodded and thanked Levy for her help. The bluenette smiled sadly and rose to leave, stepping over Gray and Natsu who had the ice make mage in a headlock. "Keep me updated, I really do miss her."

 _'Everyone misses her. Lucy, I do hope you are okay wherever you are.'_

"Right then." Erza said, also stepping over the two mages as she left to find a quiet spot in the guild to call Yukino.

* * *

 **Bang Bang Bang.**

"Open this door, now!" A deafening voice demanded from the other side of Ace's bedroom door. Lucy watched as the captain of the Spade pirates and her current bed buddy clambered over the bed and looked for the best possible place to hide.

As if just remembering that Lucy was there too, his eyes flashed and he leapt back over the bed and pulled her with him.

"Sorry I forgot you were here for a sec, you need to hide too. She's ruthless. Man, woman, child, she doesn't care who she beats up. I don't want to see your pretty face ruined by that brute, stay-"

A loud splintering sound cut off Ace's rant and the door that used to be attached to the frame flew across the room and hit him square in the face. "You keep me waiting all this time you little runt, how-"

Lucy stood her ground and stared at the huge towering form of, what she guessed was a woman, and tried her best not to seem intimidated. If this woman was as animalistic as she seemed, eye contact was the best way to show dominance and show that she wasn't afraid. People like this could practically smell fear.

Looking down at Ace who had been knocked over by the flying piece of wood, she held back a laugh at the frightened look on his face.

 _'Guess it's my turn to protect him now.'_

Placing her hand out towards the hulking figure in front of her, Lucy grasped the woman's giant hand and firmly shook it, like their introduction was nothing more than a business meeting.

Lucy's father had always told her that a firm handshake went a long way when introducing yourself to people.

There was only so firm she could be with it as Lucy's dainty hand was almost swallowed by hers. "Hello, my name is Lucy Heartfilia. You must be Ace's mother? Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Lucy was met with silence. All she could hear was Ace's heavy breathing. Considering the amount of weight the mystery woman was carrying, she sure could move fast. Moving faster than her eyes could follow, the woman darted around Lucy's body, dropping her hand and heading straight for Ace with her giant wooden club raised to strike the cowering man.

"His mother? Ha, no chance." She started to cackle, Ace joined in but soon shut up when she fixed him with a glare.

"You idiot Ace, what did I tell you? No kidnapping Princesses. Just because your ugly butt can't get a girl doesn't mean you can go around stealing them. Take her back and get your ass on the island. Luffy about pissed his pants when he saw your flag."

"No please don't hit him." Lucy exclaimed as she leapt across the bed and stood between the woman and Ace. She took a protective stance in front of him and spread her arms out to cover the area around them. "Please don't. I'm not a princess and he did not kidnap me. He saved me."

Lucy stared at her feet and felt herself getting emotional.

"And I can't go home. I don't know how."

Ace slowly got to his feet, looking overly cautious around his adoptive mother, he placed his arm around Lucy's shoulders and pulled her against his body. "Hey Dadan pipe down, you're scaring my guest. Let's go get some food and see if my kid brother has been behaving."

* * *

"Why did I let Dadan steal Lucy from me. God only knows what she's doing to the poor girl." Ace rested his face in his open hands as he waited for them to come back out of Dadan's house.

Apparently the attire Lucy was wearing wasn't suitable for such a pretty little thing. _'That was the point.'_ Ace thought sourly as he scuffed his boots against the pebbles below his feet.

What could that old hag have that would fit Lucy? She'll probably come out in full battle armor, along with a giant club to beat him with too no doubt. Like a mini version of Dadan. The image made his stomach turn.

"Ace, your ship is so cool." Glancing down at his younger brother, Ace smirked and nudged his shoulder. "Yeah it's alright. It'll do for now." Luffy lifted his hat off his head and spun it in his hand. "I was hoping to meet you next when I had a ship of my own too. Why are you back so soon? Giving up already?"

The younger boy suddenly got giddy and started to wiggle around in his seat. "Hey can I have your ship then? I'm more than ready, I swe-"

Luffy's voice cut off as his eyes almost bulged out of his head at something behind Ace's head. "You're not having my ship kid, it wasn't my choice to come back here so soon, shut up." Pulling his ear, he forget that he had the property of rubber and instead of hurting his younger brother, he just ended up stretching his ear lobe away from his head.

Letting out a loud groan, Ace let it go as it retracted back to it's original shape. It was super frustrating not being able to beat up Luffy anymore.

A musical laugh floated on the wind to his ears.

"Is that your brother Ace? The one who is super stretchy?"

Dadan's cleared her throat and pointed to Luffy.

"Yep, that's Luffy, he's as stupid as he looks. Get over here and say hello to your brothers girlfriend."

Luffy stretched his arm towards Lucy and shook her hand, all while staying in his seat, picking his nose with his free hand. "Hello, I'm Luffy. Dadan why are you so ugly? She's much prettier than you." Ace choked on his own saliva at Luffy's bluntness, his face cringed as he watched Dadan's face scrunch up in anger and he stepped out of the way as she charged past him to get to his idiot brother.

"Get back here you little brat so I can hit you, respect the woman who raised you. Do you want Garp to beat some sense into you when he gets here?"

"No not Garp, I'm sorry hag, I'm sorry." The two ran behind some buildings but the sound of the beating he was getting sent a shiver down Ace's spine.

"That sounds painful, should we help him?" Lucy's concerned voice made him smile, she didn't understand how much Luffy loved teasing that giant of a woman, he brought it upon himself. Turning to face Lucy, he started to speak but his voice got caught in his throat.

She looked like a completely different person. Clearly what she was wearing wasn't Dadan's clothing, she must've borrowed it from Makino or another slim woman in the village.

Her golden hair was being held up in two bunches by light pink ribbons, her long slender legs were exposed as she was only wearing a short white skirt and her chest was covered with a small blouse. Her abdomen was exposed, showing off her new tattoo.

Clearly feeling uncomfortable at his heated gaze, Lucy pulled on one of her pigtails and glanced at the ground. "A kind woman lent me some clothes that were more my size." Realizing that what she said may have come across as ungrateful, an alarmed look crossed her face as her brown eyes widened.

"Not that I didn't appreciate the clothes that you leant me, they were very comfortable, just not what I usually wear. I feel more like myself in things like this. Sorry Ace, that sounded super rude."

Walking up to her small frame, he pressed a finger under her chin and lifted it up to face him. A loud grumble sounded in the otherwise silent night. Lucy grasped her abdomen and tried to silence her angry stomach. Her face gained a slight pink hue and she glanced up at Ace and pulled a cute smile.

"Any chance of some grub?"

"Come on missy, let's get some fuel in your tank and some booze in mine."

Dadan and Luffy were stood behind one of the buildings the pair were walking past, the large woman had a smile on her face as she held Luffy in a headlock. "They make an alright couple huh kid?"

"Yeah, sure." Luffy mumbled. "Can I have some food too?"


	6. Chapter 6

After spending a couple of days on dry land, Lucy could clearly see how restless Ace was getting. He truly was a man made to be on the high seas. Being stuck on an island was making him fidget like crazy which in turn was making Lucy anxious.

Sitting at the table with Luffy and Dadan, Lucy gently put her palm on Ace's jiggling leg, trying to still his movements. His eyes widened in alarm and stared at where she had placed her hand.

Lucy glanced down at her hand and then back up at Ace, then realizing how her actions could have been construed and quickly removed it, using it to now cover her flaming face.

"We can go back to the ship in the morning if you want Captain." Lucy said bluntly, picking up her fork and poking her food with it to try and distract herself from her stupid actions.

Ace cleared his throat, he was unaware that Lucy could see him out of the corner of her eye as he hesitantly moved his hand to place on her bare thigh. Squeezing gently, Lucy's heart almost stopped. His hand was soft, warm and definitely innocently touching her.

"We'll go when you're ready. I know you're enjoying being on solid land and not being stuck in cramped quarters with me. You get your own bed here and everything."

What he didn't know was that she actually enjoyed sharing his bed. It comforted her and reminded her of being home with Natsu and the gang. Having another warm body so close to hers when she slept was soothing.

She kept telling herself that it had nothing to do with the fact that it was Ace that she found so calming and that if she shared her bed with anyone it would relax her but after sharing a bed with Dadan for one night she knew that that was not the case.

Lucy had not been sleeping for more than a few hours a night since they had separated and she needed her beauty sleep. Her eyes had dark rings circling them and she just felt awful, like an absolute troll. There was no doubt that she looked like-

"You look like crap princess." Luffy said bluntly as he shoved a whole chicken wing into his mouth, bone and all. Lucy watched as he swallowed the massive load and cringed when he pulled a pained face and struggled to get it past the back of his throat.

Ace leant across the table and smacked the back of his head. "You pig Luffy. Have some manners in front of our guest."

"I do have manners." He grinned widely once the chicken wing had gone down and continued his assault on the rest of the chicken left in front of him. Shaking his head at his brother, Ace rose to his feet and pulled Lucy with him.

"C'mon sweetheart, let's go get some sleep." They walked silently across the small village, both lost in their own thoughts. When it came for them to go their separate ways to their own rooms, Lucy grasped his hand tightly, as if her life depended on it.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?" She blurted out, her eyes widely staring at his. "I haven't had a good night's sleep since we docked her, I know it's so weird of me to say this but I like sleeping next to you. I need my sleep, it's very important to me." His arms pulled her to his body as he embraced the flustered blonde.

"I'm actually quite relieved you said that because my sleep has been pretty crap too. Bed buddies for tonight?"

Lucy nodded happily and started to walk towards where her bed was but stopped dead in her steps. "I think we should go to where you've been sleeping. I'd much rather have Luffy in the same room rather than Dadan."

Ace face cringed at the thought of having to sleep next to the giant of a woman and did a three sixty turn. "Agreed, let's go annoy my brother. My bed is quite small though so no complaining if you wake up to me squishing you."

Shoving him slightly, Lucy laughed and raised an eyebrow. "I'll just have tickle you, are you ticklish? I bet you are." As his torso was currently bare, she took full advantage of this and wiggled her fingers all across his abdomen.

He managed to keep a straight face for the most part, remaining indifferent and stating that a real man didn't have any ticklish spots. Just as she was about to give up, her fingers brushed over a small area of skin just below his armpit and he let out a short, high pitched giggle.

His face dropped and his eyes widened in fear just as hers lit up, utterly delighted with this discovery.

"Ah so you're not ticklish are you?" Raising her eyebrows, she stretched her hands out just as he took a step backwards. "Please, don't."

Then so begun the great tickle war.

After the war had ended and they both made it back to Ace's bed, both of them were exhausted from the sheer amount of laughing and running around they had done.

Ace had figured out that pretty much all of Lucy's body was ticklish, it was all fun and games until his hand had slipped down and squeezed the top of her breast. His face had gone bright red and she had shyly stepped away.

Then they awkwardly walked back to the cottage. There was a large bunk bed in the back room where Ace had been sleeping. It did look very small though, could it have been the same one that they had had when Ace was a child?

Luffy was already fast asleep on the top bunk, his loud snores would probably ruin any chance of sleep they had but at least they were together. Ace was her comfort blanket in this strange world, she needed him.

"Get in bed, give me one second." The pirate captain pulled himself up to the top bunk as Lucy crawled underneath and got herself settled in. A orange glow filled the dark room, a sizzling sound and a mumbled "Ace stop." Then silence.

Returning to the bed, he sat on the edge of the small mattress and took off all of his accessories. His hat was placed right below the bed frame and so was his knife. Safe keeping she assumed.

He didn't have many possessions but the ones he did, he kept close by at all times just in case he needed to make a run for it. That was a life of a pirate.

"What are you thinking about?" Ace whispered in the darkness, finally crawling into bed next to her. They were barely touching, he was keeping to his side and she was keeping to hers.

"Pirates and how it must be hard." He let out a soft chuckle and poked her abdomen. "You're a pirate now darling, it isn't hard. It's fun. You'll learn along the way, now get some sleep."

"Yeah but-"

Luffy's arm stretched from above and slapped Ace across the face. His older brother's hand suddenly was engulfed in flames as his face contorted in anger. "Hey asshole I wasn't even talking."

 _'Siblings are funny.'_ Lucy thought as she drifted to sleep to the sound of the two brothers fighting.

* * *

"Lucy." A voice whispered in her ear. She rolled over and ignored it but the voice suddenly got desperate. "Lucy, seriously we need to go."

"What, why." She mumbled sleepily, after making no signs of getting out of bed, Ace made the rash decision of picking her up and moving her himself. Feeling the wind rush out of her, she glared at his face as he took off running through the village.

"Put me down you idiot, people will see up my skirt, what are you doing." All the while she was smacking his shoulder, trying to get out of this awkward situation.

"Your little legs aren't fast enough Lucy, my gramps is here and he is not happy. We aren't on the best of terms me and ol' Garp."

Lucy frowned at this, considering all Ace talked about was how important family was to him, hearing this was a shock. "Why don't you get along with him?" With a crooked smile on his face, the naughty pirate she had grown to like pointed at a giant ship that was coming towards the island. It was easily twice the size of the Spade's pirate ship.

"He's a big shot marine, they tend to not get on so well with pirates so we best hurry."

 _'Oh Mavis help me.'_

Lucy's body jiggled as Ace finally approached the ship and got them on board. Pushing her below deck, he saluted her and closed the door.

"Just keeping you safe from any flying cannon balls sweetheart, try and get some more sleep, I'll come get you when it's over."

"Ace, you big idiot." A booming voice shouted. Lucy could hear ace let out a hearty laugh and fade off into the distance, directing the crew and really sounding the part of captain.

 _'I think I'll take him up on some more sleep. If I can sleep though Natsu and Gray fighting, I think can sleep though a naval battle.'_

* * *

Erza bowed deeply as she readied to cut off the transmission. "Thank you again Yukino, we shall see you in one weeks time." Now that she had managed to get Yukino on board with rescuing Lucy from whatever land she had been transported to, all they had to do was wait and hope and pray that Lucy was okay wherever she was.

Erza had no doubt in her mind that their feisty little celestial mage was kicking ass and having fun no matter where she had ended up.

"Not much longer Lucy, we'll get you home, back to us."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N I hope you guys know that I'm planning for this story to be quite long, well I hope so anyway because I have a lot planned for the future heh.**

The sounds of cannon fire and splintering wood had been echoing throughout the ship for the last hour, Lucy was under the impression that if you were family and you loved each other, you didn't actively try to kill one and other. Maybe she was mistaken. She would have to ask Ace if that was how they showed they loved each other.

 _'This land and it's inhabitants are all so strange.'_

The nap she had planned on having clearly did not happen, much to her disappointment. She had tossed and turned in Ace's over-sized bed but it was all in vain. The noises had proved too much for even her to sleep through.

When a crash sounded a little too close to where she was, she let out a huge huff and rolled off the bed. Stomping across the room like a petulant child, her hair was a bundle of knots after fidgeting in bed and her once cute outfit was now creased and ruffled up.

She ripped off her blouse and grabbed the first thing she saw, clearly one of Ace's discarded shirts. She shrugged it over her shoulders, and tied the bottom into a knot just above her belly button, you could only see a sliver of her Spade Pirates emblem.

Using her bare foot to kick open the bedroom door, she padded down the empty hallway and peeked up onto the deck, expecting it to be a war zone but her mouth fell open when she saw that there was no fighting going on and they were all drinking. It seemed like they were having a party.

It wasn't even noon yet. Her eyes scanned for Ace but she pointed at the closest person she could find.

"You." Lucy shouted over the general chatter of the pirates, her finger was extended towards Samson, Ace's first mate, whose eyes were already becoming hazy from the amount of alcohol he had intaken. He pointed at his chest with a confused look on his face, mouthing the word. "Me?"

She gestured for him to come over to him and returned back down the stairs, well away from the rowdy men.

 _'All of that banging must've been those idiots partying.'_

Her back was to the door leading to the upper deck, she jumped slightly when Samson's deep voice entered her ears. "Hey there sex bomb." She whipped her head around to look at him, shock evident on her face. He burst out laughing and tapped the back of the shirt she was wearing and used his finger to trace something on the material.

"S-e-x-b-o-m-b. We got it for Ace on his birthday last year. It's a special type of material so that it can't be burnt." He winked at Lucy. "It suits you though."

Lucy waved off his compliment and frowned. "Where's Ace?" Samson got a thoughtful look on his face as he pondered what she said.

"He went to see Garp. The fight was shorter than it usually is and Garp wanted to see Ace so he went over to the marines ship. He should be back soon."

Lucy couldn't believe these guys. Their captain was on board a Marine ship, even though his grandpa was the captain of it, it was an enemy ship and they were here getting drunk, without a care in the world.

"C'mon princess, I'll keep you safe from the horde upstairs. We can watch from the upper deck, you can see onto Garp's ship. We'll make sure you prince is okay."

Lucy's face turned a shade of pink at his words, only causing him to continue to laugh at her.

Once they were past all the drunken pirates, they were up next to the wheel where luckily someone was there waiting incase they needed to make a quick escape once Ace returned.

Samson was right though, you could see straight onto the Marine ship and Ace and Garp were stood near the edge, clearly in a rather heated discussion. The older man's face was becoming red from his rage.

She couldn't hear anything they were saying but when Ace turned away from him, he had a smirk on his face, then he leapt off the boat, falling towards the water below. Lucy shot forward, ready to jump in to save him. Or at least try to.

 _'His weakness is water, what the hell is he-'_

"Don't worry sweetheart, look down."

Lucy's gaze traveled down and her heart settled down when she saw that Ace had landed on a very small boat directly below. Garp was shouting after his grandson but Ace simply ignored him and used his fire power to propel his ship forward towards the Spade's ship.

"Set sail guys, go north." Ace shouted up as he secured his boat to the side of the ship and jumped back onto the deck.

Lucy approached his crouched form and adjusted his hat so it was sitting securely on his head. He peeked up as a huge grin stretched his face.

"My gramps doesn't seem to happy to hear that I've got such a sweet little thing on my ship, he said that someone like you doesn't belong on a pirate ship and it's his duty as a Marine to save you." Lucy's eyes widened as she continued to listen to him speak.

"People are always putting their nose in my business. I told him to stick to fighting me and not giving me advice." A deep scowl settled on his usually happy face as he gazed into her eyes.

"He doesn't know anything." Samson stepped in between Lucy and Ace and pulled his captain to his feet.

"You're right, ol' Garp doesn't know anything so let's just forget about all this and get some drinks down your neck."

Ace nodded his head and allowed Samson to lead him towards the door but held his hand out for Lucy to take. "C'mon sweetheart, you too."

"Stop. Take me to see him." Ace stared at her in awe.

"You want to meet my gramps?" Lucy nodded and walked towards the edge of the ship. Cupping her hands around her mouth, she shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Stay there old man." Ace cringed slightly at her words but soon burst out laughing once he saw Garp's face.

"Take us over in your little boat Ace and I'll speak to him." With a smile on his face, Ace lifted Lucy into his arms, jumped back down into his boat and propelled them forward so they were close to the marine ship.

One they were close enough that Garp would be able to hear what Lucy was saying, she told Ace to stop. "Is he bringing you over to us willingly?" Garp shouted down, a impressed look on his face as he gestured for one of his men to throw down a rope for Lucy to take.

 _'Wow he's massive.'_

Lucy gazed at the giant of a man and tried to keep her composure. He looked grizzly and scary. It was impressive how fearless Ace was when it came to him. She was petrified.

"I am here by choice, Ace is good to me so back off." Lucy looked at the old man's neck instead of making eye contact because he was actually really intimidating. It was close enough.

He still looked like he still didn't believe her so she ripped open her shirt, exposing her bikini covered chest and abdomen. She didn't know where she got the guts to do something so ballsy but Garp openly stared at her chest rather than where she wanted him to.

"Hey eyes down old man." Ace shouted, using his arms to cover her breasts. When the distraction was covered, Garp's eyes looked at her stomach and saw the emblem of Ace's pirate crew and his face screwed up, almost as if he had sucked a lemon.

"You've recruited her? Ha." He barked out a laugh and quickly pulled up the ladder. "My mistake, she can't be as innocent as she was described to be if she'd do something so vulgar and be a member of your crew willingly."

"Do up the shirt, now." His voice was a low growl, clearly unhappy with how she had handled things. Feeling suddenly embarrassed, she re-buttoned the shirt and shoved her face into his chest.

"We'll be going now that you know I'm not keeping her against her will." Ace saluted at Garp and returned the two of them to the ship.

* * *

Ace didn't talk to her much for the next couple of days, she spent most of her time with Samson and Plue as she was told that Ace was busy doing other stuff but she had a feeling that it was because of her.

Could she really stay on this ship and be a member of this crew if the captain was angry at her?

Plue was hugging her side as Samson spoke to her. They were sat on the edge of the ship, with their legs dangling over the edge, soaking in the sun's rays as they enjoyed the silence as most of the crew were busy actually doing jobs on board that Ace had assigned them, instead of drinking and stuffing their faces like they usually were.

Samson had said that Ace hadn't given any orders for her to do anything so she could do whatever she wanted. She had told him that she wanted was to have a conversation with someone apart from a celestial spirit that didn't speak the same language as her.

So she insisted that Samson spend some time with her.

"-there anything you want to do when we reach the shore?" Lucy shook her head slightly and looked over at her newest friend in this strange land. Samson was an average looking man with short brown hair and sun kissed skin and he was extremely friendly.

Smiling she kicked her legs out and apologized. "Sorry Sam, I didn't catch that." He sighed and smacked her shoulder playfully.

"You ask me to spend some time with you and then ignore me." He raised an eyebrow at her but repeated himself anyway. "

I said, is there anything you want to do when we reach the shore? Get something to eat? Let me take you sightseeing? Or-"

"I wouldn't mind speaking with Ace. He hasn't been around recently and he doesn't come to bed at night either. Have I done something?" His face dropped slightly at the mention of the Spade's captain but quickly recovered.

"He's just been real busy sweetheart, you haven't done anything. I'm sure once we take a little break he'll run straight over to your side."

 _'I hope so.'_

* * *

Lucy was the first one off the ship once they were secured in the harbor of a giant island that was bustling with life. The hordes of people everywhere reminded her of Crocus and a wave of homesickness washed over her.

 _'Now that I don't have Ace keeping me company and convincing me how fun it is being a pirate, I really miss my home. My little apartment. My guild.'_

"Punnn." Plue exclaimed as he ran in front of her and into the crowd of people. Lucy, not wanting to lose the little monster, instinctively ran after him.

Even if she wanted to close his gate and return him to the spirit world, both the spirit and the key holder had to want to close it and Plue rarely wanted to leave.

"Plue get back here mister." After pushing through the packed harbor, she heard someone calling her name but she continued onwards. Plue would be terrified if he got lost and couldn't find his way back to her.

After a few minutes of searching, she found him with his back against a small building, shaking like crazy.

"There you are! Come here." Her small spirit heard her voice and ran into her waiting arms. Once he was safe, she plopped him behind her legs. "Hold on to me and don't let go or you'll get lost again."

"What do we have here? You're a pretty little thing."

 _'Ah crap.'_

She turned her head and saw that she was now surrounded by a group of thuggish looking men. The street was now annoyingly empty and her crew were nowhere to be found.

"Plue is very pretty but he doesn't go for humans so please excuse us." Trying to push past one of the men proved impossible so she knelt onto the floor and almost made it through one of the guys spread legs but someone grabbed her ankle and dragged her back.

Her open palms and knees were scraped on the stone floor as she was pulled back into the circle of men. Plue continued through the man's legs and scampered off. Lucy watched a look of disbelief at how disloyal her spirit was. He only cared about her when she had sweets.

"Thanks a lot Plue, you're the best." She mumbled to herself as she was pulled up and pressed against a building. The man's rancid breath burnt her nose as she was subjected to it up close.

"You're the pretty one. Want some fun darlin'?" The words were on the tip of her tongue but something stopped her. She was this close to stating that she was a member of the spade pirates and that they shouldn't mess with her but she didn't.

Maybe that was why Ace was mad at her? for showing his grandfather that she was a member of his crew? He could be embarrassed of her.

When she was faced with conflict in Magnolia, she always relied on Fairy Tail's name to get her out of trouble. Just hearing the guild was enough to put some people off messing with her. But she didn't want to do that with her crew. She had to start relying on her own strength.

Plus, telling people that you were a member of a pirate crew wasn't a good thing.

Luckily, she was wearing a dress today that covered her abdomen so there was no way that this man would see her tattoo. The spade pirates were very well known for being the newcomers to the pirate world and people would recognize the emblem straight away so Samson advised her to keep it hidden whenever they were off the ship and around the general population or she would find herself getting in trouble.

He gave her the basics of who were good and who were bad. Marines were bad, if she were to encounter any Marines she was to run. That was the one rule he had given her. As she glanced up at the men surrounding her, she gulped at the words that were written on their hats.

 _'Marines, all of them? Just my luck. Definitely good that I didn't say I was a pirate.'_

"You're going to have to come with us." The ring leader said as he grabbed her wrist tightly, definitely leaving a bruise on her soft skin and started to drag her along.

Her calm demeanor started to melt away as she felt a bundle of dread in her gut.

 _'If these guys take me, I probably won't ever see Ace again, we haven't spoken in days. No, this can't happen.'_

"Let go off me asshole." Lucy started to yank herself away but he pulled harder and started to laugh.

"You've got a dirty mouth, I'll have to clean that before it touches me."

 _'Touches you? Hell no.'_

She instinctively reached for her hip but she remembered that she didn't have her whip in this world and her keys were inside her bag which was on her back.

 _'When did I get out of the habit of wearing my keys at all times? I'm such an idiot.'_

"Pun punn."

"Thanks Plue. Hey, now. Where do you think you're going with her?" Ace's voice caught the attention of all of the men keeping her surrounded and the one who had her in his grasp suddenly let go. "It's Fire fist." He exclaimed, they all pulled out their weapons, ready to fight. If you could really call what happened a fight.

Samson suddenly appeared next to her and pulled her out of the firing range. The Marines prepared to shoot but Ace's flaming fist wiped them all out in one hit. They fell to the floor, charred and unconscious.

Ace pulled an 'oops' face as he ran over and held Lucy's face in his hands.

"Don't run off ever, this could've been seriously bad. Are you okay?" She looked down at the floor, disappointed in herself. "I'm sorry, I've let you down again. Plue just ran off and-"

"I was worried, you haven't let me down at all. Yeah that little bugger came barreling over and started speaking in whatever language he speaks, Slough is the only one who understands him. It's thanks to him that we found you."

Ace winked at Plue who dug the top of his foot in the floor as he smiled at the praise. "He's a good 'un Luce."

Looking down at her small spirit, she felt bad for thinking he was running away and held her hand out. "High five Plue."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N Thank you for reviewing this story guys, it's great to know that you're enjoying it. Makes me that much more excited to update it for you!**

After the whole ordeal with beating up a whole bunch of Marines, the trio of Spade Pirates had decided to lay low and hide out in a small bar and restaurant deeper in the town, away from the scene of the crime.

The rest of the crew knew that they could get whatever they wanted from the island and do whatever they wanted as long as they returned to the boat by the end of the day and didn't cause too much trouble.

Ace wouldn't leave without any of them but he would be very annoyed if he had to go out looking for them. They were his crew, not his children.

Ace, Lucy and Samson were sat around a small table tucked in the corner of the restaurant part of the building with a mountain of food piled in front of them. Neither of the men were too sure as to what Lucy liked so they pretty much ordered something of everything, which she thought was very thoughtful of them.

And also very pricey but that was their choice, not hers. It wasn't exactly like she could foot the bill. She wasn't even entirely sure as to what currency they used in this land.

"Here." Ace mumbled through a mouthful of food, he pushed his dagger across the table for Lucy to take. "You need it more than I do. For protection. You have a knack for getting lost and in trouble." Samson snorted out a laugh.

She looked down at the curved weapon and pushed it back. Shaking her head, she started to munch on some crispy chips and ignored the dagger.

"You **need** it." Ace insisted, pushing it back. She chucked a chip at his face and shook her head again.

"No. I'm not taking anything else from you, I don't want to be a freeloader that pushes her way into your crew, steals your clothes and takes your lucky dagger from you." Ace raised his eyebrow and played with the tassel on his hat.

"I wouldn't say it was lucky." He mumbled quietly.

She sighed heavily. "Please, just let me earn my own way. Give me jobs like you do the rest of the crew. Anything at all. I just don't want to be a burden on any of you anymore."

Samson and Ace were quiet as they both stared at Lucy's serious looking face. Then Ace pulled the dagger back off the table and returned it to it's sheath situated on his belt.

"Alright then, I'll give you more jobs aboard the ship. But we're getting you a weapon, today. Let me do this for you."

Samson nodded his head in agreement. "I know the perfect place full of deadly little weapons that would be ideal for you Lucy."

* * *

"This one's pretty cute." Samson whipped a small combination knife from the stand that was spinning in front of them. Lucy examined the weapon and traced a finger over the pink finish. She was about to take it from him but Ace smacked her hand away and replaced the small weapon with a giant sword.

"She needs something that'll actually do some damage, not a little butter knife." There was a tint of irritation in his voice as he shoved the huge sword in her face. It looked like a samurai sword of sorts, but much thicker.

Her fingers wrapped around the handle and immediately, she knew she wasn't going to get along with something like this. When she returned it to Ace's hand with a shake of her head, Samson pulled a smug face and held the pocket knife out again but Lucy ignored the both of them and stepped forward, her eyes set on something entirely different.

Something that would feel familiar but still do the damage that was needed for the savages that were in this land.

Ace's eyes widened and Samson's mouth fell open at the weapon of her choice. She grasped the handle and sighed happily at the familiarity. Throwing it over her shoulder and sending it zooming forwards, the metallic smack it made when it made contact with the floor made her mind up. This was the weapon she wanted.

"You want **that**? Are you sure?" Ace said, emphasizing on the word that. Samson's eyes were sparkling as he spoke.

"You seem to know how to work with that weapon." Lucy nodded and smiled shyly. "Back where I'm from, I have a few of these but none quite like this." The weapon of her choice was of course a whip, except this one had something the others she'd had in the past didn't.

She'd had a standard leather one and one that she had been gifted from the celestial spirit realm. This one was fully metallic.

It had a sharp arrow like edge at the very end that was sure to leave a mark on her enemies, the rest was a chain link metal that she would be able to grasp if she had the right pair of gloves. It would shred her skin if she tried to hold it otherwise.

After leaving with her purchases, the day was pretty much over as the sun was setting and it was time to return to the ship.

The walk to the harbor was short but the trio stopped dead in their tracks when a woman shrieked Ace's name. Freezing on the spot, he pulled his hat down to cover his eyes and started to walk faster. Lucy looked behind them and saw a woman pushing past people to try and reach them. Her auburn hair was trailing behind her as she ran towards them.

"Yoohoo Sam, Ace. Wait up!"

Samson made a noise as he saw her approaching them, pulled his shirt up to cover his mouth and he too picked up the pace. Lucy trailed behind them, still looking over her shoulder at the girl who was slowly gaining on them.

"Uh guys, that girl's trying to get your attention, don't you want to say hi?"

"No!" They said in unison and carried on. The ship was in eyesight now and escape was near but Ace let out a low groan as he was tackled from behind. The girl had finally caught them. She rolled Ace onto his back, pulled his hat off and popped it onto her head.

"Hey there cowboy, why were you running away?" She was straddling him now, like he was a horse and Lucy wasn't entirely thrilled about it. Ace snatched his hat off the girl and shoved her off his body.

"Get the hell off me Candy, what do you think you're doing?" Getting to his feet, Ace wiped off some of the dirt that had now gotten on his light yellow shirt and glared at the newcomer.

She pouted and twirled a ringlet of her hair around her finger, then her attention settled on Lucy and a look of understanding settled on the girl's face.

"Ah, have you gotten a new toy now? She's quite cute but is she enough for you?" Trailing a finger down Ace's exposed chest, he took a step back and looked a little bit sick from the contact.

The girl didn't look fazed and continued her assault on the boys, but moving over to Samson who looked absolutely terrified.

"And here I was thinking that we had a lot of fun the last time we were together? We could do it again if you want? I'll come with you to your ship and-"

"No." Ace said firmly. "Get out of her, we're not interested. You know the ship is out of bounds anyway, members only."

Lucy stared at the floor, feeling slightly awkward being in between this conversation. Clearly these three had a past of some kind and she was getting in the middle of it.

"I can go wait at the harbor if you guys want to have a catch up before we leave?" Lucy had her hand secured on her hip where she had her new whip in it's holder, begging to be used if anybody caused trouble for her. Ace and Samson both grasped her wrists, halting her movements. Their eyes begging her to stay.

"We're coming, she's going." Lucy was secretly happy that they had decided to come with her. This girl seemed like trouble and these guys were her friends. They could do a lot better than her if that was the type of relationship they did have.

"I'll see you both in a couple of months then once this one is thrown away?" The girl's voice was full of spite and it made Lucy snap.

With one leather covered hand, she pulled her whip out, holding half of the chain, she twisted her wrist so it extended towards the girl's face but just stopped short. It was enough to scare the living daylights out of her but not to do any damage.

"They're not interested in you sweetie, go home and save yourself the embarrassment." Lucy smiled sweetly at her and turned back around to walk back to the ship.

Candy's face burnt with embarrassment at being shown up. "Who do you think you are? You're just another slut that he'll be done with soon. You're not special."

Samson pulled Lucy against his body and molded his lips against hers, catching her completely off guard. Her body went completely stiff and she stared at him with wide eyes.

 _'Why the hell is he kissing me?'_

"Ugh." The girl huffed loudly and could be heard stomping off into the distance. Samson's body was ripped off Lucy as Ace held him up by his collar, his fist a bundle of flames, ready to strike.

"What do you think you're doing Sam?" His voice was an angry growl.

"Candy had a knife, she was going to stab Lucy as soon as she had her back to her. The only way to get rid of that crazy bitch was to prove that we aren't interested." His gentle blue eyes connected with Lucy's and an apologetic smile stretched his face.

"I'm sorry about that darlin' I meant no harm." Lucy smiled back, all of a sudden nervous and nodded her head.

"No it's fine, thanks for saving me." She tried to not get angry at the fact that Samson had actually stolen her first kiss.

Ace released his friend but still had a sour look on his face. "Don't do something like that again, Lucy didn't like it."

* * *

For the rest of the night, Lucy had been extremely distracted. She had been nursing the same drink for the past hour so it had gone warm and flat. Her eyes kept glancing over at Ace, he was smiling now thankfully, his foul mood now completely gone.

He was more angry about Sam kissing her than she was. He was protective of her, like the big brother she never had.

It made her sad to think about it because she knew that she would have to leave soon. She had asked her spirit Horologium to keep a count down on how long it was until the next full moon, until it was time for her to make the decision to stay or to go.

Grandpa Crux had been very vague on what was going to happen when her month was up, she assumed that the tear in time would appear and she could make the choice whether to go through it or not.

On the one hand, her whole life was back in Magnolia, she missed her guild and all of the rowdy fights that came with being a part of Fairy Tail. Natsu, she missed him the most.

His fiery personality shone through in Ace though, but where Natsu was a child, Ace was a man, despite the fact that they were around about the same age. Her fingers traced Horologium key and his voice spoke in her mind.

 **"7 days until the full moon rises Miss Lucy."**

One week, that was all she had to make her decision. It felt like her heart was being torn in two, it was too hard. "What's on your mind blondie? You're scrunching your face up and it looks ugly so I thought I'd come over and check on you." Samson slid himself onto the seat opposite Lucy and rested his head in his hands, eager to listen to her.

"Oh you know, stuff. Going back home, staying here. Big decisions." He smiled sadly at her.

"I wish I could help you with that decision, but that is all on you." Taking a hold of her gloved hand, he wrapped her fingers around a fresh glass of beer that he had brought over.

"You need a drink love. Forget about your problems for tonight, worry about them tomorrow."

So that's exactly what she did.

* * *

Drunken laughter echoed down the empty hallway as a soberish Samson helped the intoxicated Lucy to bed. He had been a perfect gentleman and did exactly what she needed him to, listen to her problems and offer kind words when it was necessary. He had apologized profusely about kissing her earlier on, which made her then admit that it was the first time she had ever actually kissed someone.

He hadn't said a whole lot after that and had insisted that she be taken to bed. When they arrived at the door, Lucy clung to his back and giggled. "You're big Samson, it's like i'm hugging a bear. Where's Ace?"

"He's in there Lucy, go get some sleep, bye." Pulling away from her, he scurried away, leaving her alone. She slipped down the wall and landed on the wooden floor with a loud bang.

"Pah." She burst out laughing as she tried her best to reach the door handle but it felt like it was meters higher than it was. "Come back handle, I need you." She whispered as the door flew open and Ace stared down at her.

She pulled a 'don't be mad at me.' face and held her hand out for him to pull her up.

"Come on you, bed time."

As Ace tucked her into bed, she sighed happily and closed her eyes.

"I like this place, I think I've made my decision."


	9. Chapter 9

"Sam, I'm not being disrespectful or anything but these are utterly ridiculous."

Lucy scrunched up the list of jobs that she had been given, threw it over her shoulder and walked straight past Samson to find herself a bucket and some water. Sam trailed closely behind her, with the crumpled piece of paper now in his hand.

"Ace didn't want you to have any difficult jobs, you are a g-" Spinning on her heel, she pressed a finger against his lips and scowled.

"I hope you weren't going to refer to me as **just** a girl otherwise we might have a problem." Samson's face paled visibly as he shook his head from side to side, a nervous smile etched on his face.

"Absolutely was not going to say that. It doesn't matter what I was going to say, all that matters is you take it easy." Huffing in frustration, she carried on walking to find some cleaning supplies.

"That's the problem with this place, a lack of cleanliness." Lucy was mumbling to herself as she rummaged through a cupboard full of absolutely everything apart from what she was looking for.

"How can you expect people to fear us when our ship looks like this Sam? How? You can't that's how. This place is disgusting."

She pointed to the disgusting state of the ship's floors, the wood was practically rotting from the amount of ale that had been spilt on it and left to slowly burn away at the planks.

He was clearly embarrassed at the poor state of the ship as he refused to make eye contact with Lucy again.

"Yeah I know, none of us have ever had to clean before, it's hard."

Tapping him lightly on the head with a brush she had found, she grinned crookedly at her new friend.

"Watch and learn from the master. I'll have this place spick and span in no time. Keep everyone away from the top deck for the next couple of hours if they don't want to get whipped."

"I know a couple of people who wouldn't mind getting whipped by you." Samson mimicked Lucy's whipping pose and winked at her as she pulled a face of utter disgust. "You're all gross now leave me alone to do my magic."

After Samson had made sure that all of their crew were tucked safely below deck, she could finally get to work. Her eyes examined the floor, it was riddled with empty barrels, broken bottles and Mavis only knew what else.

 _'What do you expect? They're a bunch of rowdy pirates, they're having fun.'_

Men like her crew were not made to do normal chores, so she would happily take that job on if it meant she was pulling her own weight on the ship. But could she really do this all by herself? It was a huge task, even for her.

This would be the part where she would call out Virgo to help her clean. No. She wasn't like that anymore. Her spirit had better things to do than help her mop floors. She was one of the twelve zodiacs and Lucy used to have her doing such menial jobs.

 _'I suppose calling out Plue wouldn't really be called shrugging off my duties. would it? More for a bit of company really.'_

After sweeping all of the broken shards of glass, it was officially Plue safe. So she tied two large sponges onto the bottom of his tiny feet and gently pushed him forwards onto the now soapy floor. Plue wobbled unsteadily as he slid over the watery deck.

"Go on Plue, it's just like when we went ice skating with Gray. You can do it buddy." The little spirit seemed to recall the memory she had mentioned and started to skate around the deck, with a huge lollipop sticking out of his mouth.

"That sorts that job out." She glanced upwards and had to shield her eyes, the sun was starting to reach it's peak in the sky and was really starting to make her sweat.

She couldn't do all of the hard work fully clothed, she'd die of heat stroke.

Without a second thought, she stripped down to her bikini and with a sigh of relief got back to work.

This was the life, working whilst getting a tan and her designated dose of vitamin D at the same time.

Lucy had still stuck with her decision that she wanted to stay in this strange land that had captured her heart and kept it firmly in it's grip.

It was getting closer and closer to the full moon, the day where the rip in time was supposed to appear. She hoped that keeping herself busy with jobs would make it all a bit easier and keep her mind off it.

The thought of not being able to see Natsu's smile, Gray's classic scowl and Erza's cake smeared face ever again did make her heart clench painfully but not being able to see Ace again? It ripped the oxygen out of her lungs and made it near impossible to breathe.

In just under a month, that idiot had become her reason to breathe. Hadn't that been Fairy Tail once upon a time? It didn't make sense. Fairy Tail would be fine without her, people left all the time. In her mind, she knew she was trying to justify the selfish decision she was making.

Ace was her family now and she couldn't leave him. She wouldn't.

 _'Things change, people change and I have most definitely changed. It's time for a new chapter in my life.'_

* * *

"She looks so sexy." A pirate peeking on Lucy mumbled to himself. He was practically drooling over her exposed body, all the while completely unaware of his captain standing behind him with a face like thunder.

"We don't like peeping toms do we Sam?"

The pirate spun around, like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar and Ace was the cookie monster. Samson stepped out from behind Ace, cracked his neck from side and pulled a menacing smile.

His eyes flickered over the man's shoulder and saw Lucy, hard at work. Her porcelain skin was glowing in the sunlight, her sweat was almost causing it to sparkle.

 _'I don't blame him for peeking, she's a goddess among us mere men.'_

Ace slapped the back of Samson's head and scowled. "Not you too, she is not for our eyes so behave." Ace pointed at the pirate cowering in front of them.

"You're new here aren't you? One of my oldest friends said you were going to be a good addition to this crew, now was he right? As the captain of this vessel, I'll let you off with a warning this time, now get out of here."

Not needing to be told twice, he scampered off with his tail between his legs, barely holding in a scream at the close call he had gotten himself into. Keeping his eyes averted, Ace pulled the door to and blocked out the view of Lucy.

"You need to get a grip Sam, she's not here forever, don't fall in love and don't get attached. She isn't ours and she never will be."

"You're one to talk."

Ace let out a soft sigh and pulled his hat lower to hide his face. "Sorry. I know I'm being a hypocrite. I just don't know what to do, I can't exactly ask her to stay. That would put her in a situation that I don't want. Her home is somewhere far away and we won't be able to reach her there."

Samson pushed up his best friends hat and smiled at the crestfallen look etched on his face. "Then pull your head out of your ass and let's enjoy the time we have left with her."

* * *

"Okay, c'mon guys, onwards to the beach. I can't wait to see her." Natsu was extremely pumped, the day had finally come. The day that he would be able to see his Lucy again.

He'd be lying if he said that she hadn't consumed every single one of his thoughts since the day that she had disappeared.

It took having her ripped away to realize that his feelings for her were stronger than anything he'd ever known, it was scary. What was even scarier was the thought of not ever being able to tell her how he felt.

"I will stay here where it is a safe enough distance away to summon my spirit and not get sucked through the tear myself." Yukino blushed as the three Fairy Tail mage's eyes locked onto hers. "I wish you all the best of luck with recovering Lucy. Please bring her back safely."

"Don't worry about a thing, we've got this." Natsu pulled a smug grin, trying his best to hide his nerves that were threatening to spill over.

Erza, Gray, Natsu and Libra made their way down to the shore and out onto the sea, thanks to Gray's ice magic, a long hardened trail awaited them.

Erza's eyes glanced downwards at Natsu's quivering hand and embraced it gently in hers. Letting Gray and the celestial spirit walk on ahead, the re-equip mage embraced her dearest friend.

"What if she hates me for not keeping an eye on her. This is all my fault after all." Natsu mumbled into Erza's shoulder, tears spilling from his wide eyes.

Tutting softly, she caressed his wild head of hair, in an attempt to soothe him. "Silly boy, it's like you don't know our Lucy at all. She will just be happy to see you. Come on now, she's waiting for us Natsu."

They both gazed up at the night sky at the startling brightness of the moon.

 _'It's time.'_

* * *

Leaning against the edge of the ship, Lucy and Ace silently stared up at the starry night sky. At least that was what they thought they were staring at but their eyes were both fixed on the giant full moon beaming above them.

"So, it's a full moon tonight huh." Ace tried to ace casual about the matter but his voice trembled ever so slightly.

Lucy peeked across at him and smiled, she had noticed that whenever he was embarrassed or upset, he would pull his hat down to cover his eyes so all you could see was the spattering of freckles over his cheeks and the two faces smiling and frowning on the front of the hat.

"Which one are you right now Ace?" She tapped the sad face on his hat. "Are you sad because of the fact that I might be leaving?" Then she tapped the smiling face. "Or are you going to be happy because I'm definitely not leaving this ship or this crew?"

His body stiffened slightly as her words sunk in and he peeked under the rim of his hat at her face. "You're not going? Are you-"

"Shut up. Don't ask me if I'm sure because I've thought about it day and night. I've made my decision and I want to stay here, with you."

Warm arms encased her from behind but her body slipped through them and she hit the floor with a loud thud. She threw a death glare over her shoulder at a confused looking Samson.

"What the hell Sam? If you're going to pick me up at least do it right. My poor bum hurts now." He looked frightened now.

Lucy looked at both of them with narrowed eyes. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Aces eyes were wide and his mouth kept opening and closing like he was trying to talk but no words were coming out. He was as pale as a ghost.

"Lucy, you're disappearing." Samson fell down to his knees and tried to grasp Lucy's arm but his fingers passed straight through it.

"I didn't drop you on purpose, you fell through my arms."

Lucy stared down at her body and saw that it was indeed starting to fade. Crux's words echo'd in her mind as she felt herself start to disappear. It was sucking her back through the tear, despite what she thought, she did not have a choice in the matter.

 _'If you don't go to it, it will come to you.'_

She tried to speak, to tell them she loved them, that she didn't want to go, she wanted to stay with them. But her mouth refused to obey her. The last thing she saw was Ace's anguished face as he knelt down and tried to hug her.

Then everything was gone. Her ship, her brothers. Her new beginning was gone, stolen right before her eyes.

"Luce? Shit, Erza, Gray get over here, it's Lucy! She's back."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N Hey guys sorry for the wait on this chapter, all is explained on my fan fiction page. I hope you enjoy this update!**

 **If any of you are interested in finding other good fairy tail fan fiction stories, I'd highly recommend liking this page on** **Facebook -** **SomeFTFanFic**

 **They post some amazing stories.**

"She's unconscious but alive. She just appeared washed up on the beach? How strange." Erza's voice was stern, but you could clearly tell she was trying to hide the concern she was feeling at the sudden appearance of their missing celestial mage.

She gently tapped the back of Natsu's head and gestured towards Lucy who was tucked safely in his arms. He was holding her like he was afraid she was going to disappear again. Erza really couldn't blame him for being frightened, whenever he loved something, it was ripped away from him.

It was rare that they actually returned. She very much doubted he was going to ever let her out of his sight ever again.

Natsu gaze lifted from Lucy's sleeping face and gazed at Erza. "She's really back? I'm not dreaming am I?" As he allowed his rough hand to slowly caress Lucy's cheek. His eyes fell shut and a huge grin appeared on his face.

"I've constantly dreamt about this moment for the past four weeks and she has never felt this warm in my arms. This is real."

"Okay cheese ball, hurry up and get back to the carriage." Gray was smirking as he gently pushed the dragon slayer forward. "The sooner we get back on the road, the sooner we'll be back home in Magnolia." Pulling out his lacrima out of his pocket, he nodded for Natsu to go on ahead without him.

"I've sent Libra back to Yukino so she should be back in the town's center by now. She had Sting and Rogue accompany her so she'll be fine. I'll call back to the guild and let them know what's going on."

Natsu nodded his head and made his way back to their ride home. Once they were safely inside the carriage, he placed Lucy's body gently onto the seat and stared down at her. She didn't look any worse for wear, no cuts or bruises anywhere he could see. No bones were broken. There wasn't a hair on her head that was out of place.

 _'Where the hell have you been all this time Lucy.'_

He was curious to say the least.

Erza and Gray climbed into the compartment and tapped on the drivers window, indicating that they were ready to leave. The feeling of extreme sickness flooded Natsu's body, his one and only weakness.

 _'Dammit, forgot about that.'_

He let his body slowly sink down onto the long cushioned seat next to Lucy as he felt all of his strength melt away.

Feeling her warmth and inhaling her scent made the journey back to Magnolia seem way too short for his liking. He could have stayed like that all day.

As his eyes scanned down her body, they were drawn to a sliver of her stomach that was showing, something brightly colored that was standing out against her otherwise pale skin caught his attention.

He checked to make sure Gray and Erza weren't looking at him, otherwise they would think he was being perverted but it was mere curiosity that caused his fingers to trail down her body and slightly lift up the material. His eyes widened at the large tattoo that was inked into her skin.

"What the fuck is that." Natsu murmured as he let the material fall back against her body. He had too many questions and he didn't feel like he had enough time to ask them.

Pressing his nose into the crook of her neck, he inhaled deeply and tried to calm himself down but it only made the awful feeling of dread in his stomach grow bigger. Her scent was deeply mingled with someone else's. A males.

* * *

"Ace." Lucy gasped out and reached her arm out to feel for him,except he wasn't there. Her stomach dropped as she started desperately fumbling around the bed she was lying in.

 _'Where is he? Please tell me it was all a nasty dream and I didn't actually get sucked back though the tear.'_

Her eyes scanned the room for him but struggled to see anything through the inky darkness.

A flame appeared at the far end of the room, illuminating a man's face. She felt a flutter of hope but it was soon extinguished when she saw that it was not her captain. It was someone she was intending to abandon, someone who had given a home at his guild and in his heart. Natsu's eyes were glaring through the flame he had created, the intense stare gave Lucy the chills.

 _'It wasn't a dream. I'm back.'_

"Where have you been Luce?" Her mouth was opening and closing as she tried to think of something to say. Anything. Tears were building in her eyes as the raw emotions she was feeling began to overflow and spill over.

At the sight of her tears, his bad mood fully dissipated and he rushed over to her side to comfort her. Pulling Lucy tightly against his body, he tried to silence her gut wrenching cries with soothing words.

"Hey, I'm sorry Luce, don't cry. You're home now. This whole nightmare is over, I won't ever let you out of my sight again."

His words only seemed to make her cry harder.

* * *

 **Two Weeks Later**

"Hey Luce, wanna go on a mission with me and Happy?" Natsu and Happy's eager faces almost made her feel guilty for turning them down all the time, _almost._

She shook her head from side to side and pushed away from the guild's bar, where she had made a regular seat for herself to sit in every night, instead of at a table with Natsu and everyone else.

She still wanted to return to Ace and her crew but she just needed to find out a way to make the journey there permanent, Grandpa Crux had told her that the tear would remain there forever but she could not keep travelling through it, there was no guarantee that she would arrive there in one piece.

The journey there put a huge strain on her body so it was extremely dangerous to keep making it.

She could probably do the journey once or twice more before the time rip would begin to destroy her body.

Until the time came when she would return, she had been distancing herself from everyone in the guild, she succeeded in keeping everyone away from her, except Natsu.

It seemed that he wasn't planning to leave her side any time soon, not while he was still alive and breathing. No matter what she said to him or how she treated him, he would always come back with a smile on his face and a skip in his step. A true friend.

Lucy would only abandon this life if it did not impact others like it had before but Natsu was making it impossible.

"Natsu, I don't feel up to going on missions yet. Sorry. I might come on the next one with you." He pulled a glum face and nudged Happy forward, hoping that the cute blue exceed could possibly change her mind. Happy pouted at her and pressed his paws together, praying that she might change her mind.

"Please Lucy, it's no fun without having to save you all the time. This mission is for 200,000 Jewels, I know you like money."

Lucy flicked Happy in between the eyes and walked past her old partner. In the past, the mention of that amount of money would of had her running out of the guild hall with them but not anymore. She was a completely different person now, money did not interest her. She wouldn't need jewels where she was going.

"Sorry guys, enjoy the reward money though. I've got enough savings to not work for a bit longer. Maybe ask Lisanna or Elfman if they want to go with you, I know they're free today." She made it through the guild doors, all the while unaware that the fire dragon slayer was following closely behind, hot on her heels.

Grabbing her shoulder, Natsu spun Lucy around to face him and pinned her against the guild doors. His eyes burnt holes through hers as he glared at her shocked face. His touch was soft even though his demeanor was not.

"Why are you acting like this? I thought you were just going through a bit of a tough time since you've been through so much recently but you've been like this for two weeks. What have I done?" His thumb wiped along her cheek and settled behind her ear.

"I already lost you once, I can't lose you again. Not when you're right in front of me. Please Luce. I feel like you're getting further and further out of my reach." His voice cracked as tears started to drip down onto Lucy's cheek. Covering his face from sight, he vigorously wiped at his leaking eyes and tried to compose himself.

"Shit, I just can't deal with this anymore Luce. You won't tell me anything so how am I supposed to help you? I just want to help you."

 _'How can I do this to him? Is leaving really the right thing to do? I'm destroying him. I don't know what to do.'_

At times like this, she would often write a letter to her mother, somehow it seemed to help her think, writing to her deceased mother was a habit that she had done since she was a small child, her own way of dealing with the loss.

If she was struggling with a decision or a life choice, she would write to her mother and like Layla could hear her words, the answer would just pop into her head. Clearly she needed to have a bit more time thinking about the situation as she had miscalculated how much Natsu had actually missed her.

Being ripped away from Ace was an indescribable pain but what if she had made Natsu feel that pain? It wasn't fair to cure her own pain by making someone else suffer from that same feeling.

Nobody had ever cared for her quite as strongly as Natsu did at this moment in time. Maybe if she had been able to stay in that strange land, Ace may have been able to but how could she leave someone who clearly thought the world of her?

Natsu had changed since she had been been gone, his childish nature was a thing of the past, replaced by this caring, sensitive man who just wanted to spend time with Lucy and she had been pushing him away.

"Natsu." She said softly as she pulled his hand away from his eyes. His gaze stayed fixed on the ground as she spoke.

"I'm so sorry for causing you so much pain. I really can't go on that mission with you tomorrow but how about when you guys are done with it, you can come over to my house and I'll cook you both some food? Fire chicken for you and grilled fish for Happy? We can talk about everything then."

Natsu tears disappeared as he wrapped his arms around Lucy's shoulders and squeezed. "Okay. That sounds great, I missed you and your cooking."

Her eyes twinkled as she stared over Natsu's shoulders at the crescent moon that was shining in the darkened sky. Maybe staying in Fiore for a little bit longer would be okay, wouldn't it?

* * *

"Ace, it's been two weeks. She's not coming back. Just get your ass out here, we need our captain back." Samson was gently tapping on Ace's bedroom door that had been firmly shut ever since Lucy's disappearance.

He would only speak to Samson and that would never be face to face but through the door instead. His answers would always be short and to the point, as if he didn't see the point in talking to anyone.

"We're staying in these coordinates until she comes back. This isn't a discussion Sam." Ace's voice was dull and lifeless.

"Fuck this." Samson muttered and kicked the door open, the wood splintered under the force of his booted foot and fell to the floor. Ace didn't seem phased at the sudden intrusion and stayed seated on the floor of his bedroom, wrapped tightly in a small blanket.

Samson was in shock as he stared at his captain. Usually Ace tried to be stupidly strong and ignore anything that was wrong but losing Lucy had hurt him more than he had expected.

"Pull yourself together Ace for fuck sake." Grabbing the blanket, he yanked it from his body and whipped the bare flesh of Ace's torso. That got a small reaction out of the fearsome fire fist. Bringing his arms up to defend himself from the onslaught from his best friend, Ace cringed as he tried to get to his feet.

After being in that same position for the past few days, his legs were protesting at the weight they were being made to hold up now.

A lot of his muscle mass had disappeared and his cargo shorts were hanging from his waist. He had eaten only when his stomach was screaming at him to, otherwise he would starve.

His mind was filled with nothing but images and memories of that crazy blonde girl that had appeared in his life and disappeared just as fast.

Ignoring the painful twist of his heart at the thought of her, Ace glared at his first mate and cleared his throat. "Stop whipping me, it reminds me of her except you aren't half as good at it as she was."

Samson looked at the twisted material in his hands and smiled. "She did teach me how to properly use a whip, she had a crazy good technique. I never quite got the hang of it."

The pair looked at the floor, lost in their own thoughts. Lucy had affected both of their lives in such a positive way that suddenly not having her there anymore made them feel a little bit lost.

"She's a mage Ace and a good one at that, if she ever does come back, I'm sure she'll be able to find us." Samson placed his hand on his friend's shoulder and let out a sigh.

"We can't stay docked here in the middle of the ocean forever. Some of the crew members are becoming restless. They don't understand what's going on."

Ace punched the floor below him, leaving behind a large singed hole from his flaming fist. "If I let us leave, that means I'm giving up. That I'm giving up on her ever coming back." He stared into Samson's eyes, pleading with him. "I don't want to give up on her, she wanted to stay. I can't let this be over."

"If you don't give up on her, your crew will give up on you. She would want you to continue to make the Spade's strong so when she does return to us, her crew will be one of the most feared band of pirates sailing the seas."

This was why he didn't want to talk to Samson, he knew that he would be able to change his mind. Samson was always the voice of reason and that was why he was his first mate and best friend. He trusted him with his life.

Ace knew that his duty was to his crew and to his ship. As much as it pained him, Samson was right. They had to continue on their journey to becoming one of the most fearsome pirate crews in the east blue and they could only do that if they actually got back out onto the sea and started getting their name known.

They were already well known but not anywhere near enough to reach his goal of getting the one piece. Samson cleared his throat and held out Ace's signature hat for him to take. Pulling a sad smile, Ace took the hat and placed it on top of his messy head of hair. "Okay Sam, you win. Let's go be pirates. For Lucy."

Samson grinned as he pulled Ace up to his feet and wrapped his arm around his shoulder. "Hell yes buddy, for Lucy."


	11. Chapter 11

"You've got to be kidding me." Lucy stared at Natsu and then gestured towards the job request he had so smoothly slid in front of her. She knew that he was feeling a little bit protective of her but this was just insulting.

This job was something that newbies did as their first mission. Not a job for two powerful mages such as themselves.

"Escort a lady to do her shopping, may also include carrying said shopping?" Natsu smiled innocently and nodded his head as she read from the request form, seeming excited to do such a boring job.

Something was seriously up with this guy. The Natsu she knew would only want to do jobs that included monsters or the chance to beat something up.

"Yep, sounds perfect doesn't it? One of the best ones on the board." Lucy pushed herself from the table and marched across the guild hall to where the request board was located.

Even from way back, she could see that it was overflowing with jobs. Natsu was lying through his teeth.

"Kill the beast terrorizing our village, take down dark mage, kill monster taking our livestock." Lucy read out a few more requests and started to throw the forms over her shoulder at the dragon slayer.

"There's so many forms on here I can't even read them all. Don't lie to me Natsu, what's your game plan here? And don't you dare say it's because you think I'm too weak to carry out a real job, you know that simply isn't true."

As she glanced back at him, she couldn't miss the worried look that had appeared on his face. "I just don't want to see you get hurt, is that a problem?"

Lucy crossed her arms and frowned, hell yes it was a problem. "Natsu, if you can't work with me anymore, I am more than happy to do solo missions." His face dropped and he opened his mouth to argue. "I'm a big girl, I can do things on my own y'know."

"No." His voice caught her off guard, it was a deep growl that told Lucy that working solo wasn't an option to him.

"We're a team, we stick together. I'm sorry for being overprotective, I know you hate it." Running his hands through his hair, he let out a short puff of air and held his hands up in defeat. "Okay, pick a mission and I'll take it to Mira to clear."

Her eyes scanned the board for an interesting request, one stuck out like a sore thumb and she ripped it away. "This one."

A twinkle appeared in Natsu's eyes and he turned on his heel to take it to the bar. "Okay." His voice sounded shaky as he spoke. "If you're sure you can handle it."

 _'If I can handle your overprotective ass, I can handle anything.'_

Sticking her tongue out at his retreating form, she felt a sudden wave of sadness wash over her. Ace would never have doubted her like Natsu was.

He treated her like an equal and he never stopped believing in her. A part of her knew that he would never lose hope that she would return to him, that was why she was delaying it.

He wouldn't give up on her, it just wasn't in his nature.

 _'I know Samson will look after him until I return. Right now, I need to look after Natsu.'_

Lucy's keys started to jingle against her legs, getting overly warm on her skin. A burst of light almost blinded her, her hands rose to cover her eyes until the light disappeared.

All that could be heard was the sound small footsteps as they slowly padded towards her.

"Pun punn?" Peeking through her fingers, she was a little surprised to see Loke standing behind a confused looking Plue.

Natsu had launched himself across the room to where Lucy was, his body had reacted before his mind fully registered what had actually happened and he secured the Zodiac leader in a stiff headlock. Loke's face started to turn a shade of purple as his oxygen supply was slowly cut off.

"Natsu you idiot, get off." The sound of his choked voice was like a bucket of cold water over his head and Natsu's eyes suddenly filled with recognition.

He quickly released his hold on his old guild mate. Scratching his head, he awkwardly smiled and patted Loke on his suited back. "Sorry about that pal, you scared me."

Loke did not look impressed as he readjusted his glasses and rubbed his neck. "Yeah I can see that." His gaze switched from the dragon slayer over to his key holder.

"Hey Lucy, why haven't you summoned me in a while? I've missed your beautiful face." Slapping away his hand, she smiled at her most trusted spirit. "Been on an adventure. Anyway, I thought you were going to stop this mindless flirting? You've got Aries now."

Holding her hand out for Plue to take, she glanced down at her smallest spirit and poked him on the end of his pointed nose. "What are you doing here mister?" Plue started to shake on the spot, looking extremely agitated.

"He was insistent that I bring him here as he's not strong enough to open his own gate, little guy wouldn't leave me alone until I did. He was asking for someone named Ac-"

Lucy poked him in the gut to silence him and started to laugh awkwardly. "Ah yes, that's enough of that Loke, take him back now." The lion spirit held his side and backed away from Lucy.

"Don't poke people, it hurts. Alright. Call on me soon alright." Plue was reaching for Lucy as the two spirits disappeared back to their own realm.

It seemed like Plue had gotten just as attached to Ace as Lucy had.

"What the hell was that about?" Natsu muttered, his eyes were fixed on the spot where Plue and Loke were just standing.

What could she say? Plue was strange anyway, it wasn't unbelievable that he forced Loke to bring him just because he wanted some earth candy. The stuff they had in the celestial realm was pretty bland in comparison.

 _'Ah I'll just feign ignorance.'_

"Who knows. I'm going home to get ready, I'll meet you at the station in an hour." Then she ran, like the coward she was. Lucy knew that she could only avoid it for so long, eventually she would have to tell Natsu the truth.

After she had promised to tell him everything, when it actually came down to it and he was sat there, silently waiting for her to speak, she froze.

Maybe it was selfish of her but she didn't want to share her memories with Ace and Samson and all of the Spade pirates with anybody else. They wouldn't understand.

So she had simply shrugged her shoulders and said that she didn't remember anything. Natsu's eyes had flicked down to her abdomen where she had hidden her tattoo away from sight.

He knew it was there, somehow. Yet he didn't say anything. He just smiled at her and continued to allow her to lie to him.

She could feel herself digging a hole beneath her feet and she didn't know if she was going to be able to get out of it.

* * *

"Are you sure you're feeling up to this?" Despite saying that they could take this job, he hadn't stopped asking her if she had changed her mind the whole time they were on the train.

"Yes Natsu, I'm sure. The location is just up ahead, Make sure you keep up."

Running up the grassy hill, she could already smell their target.

The particular beasts that were plaguing this village were ones she had become all too familiar with in this past month. Ones that she thought didn't exist in this land.

"Hello pirates" She mumbled with a huge grin on her face. The smell was one she welcomed, it was of the sea. Slightly salty, with a pinch of sulfur and a briny finish. Natsu pinched his nose and cringed.

"These guys stink worse than Gajeel, what the hell."

Her feet started to take her towards the group of rowdy men, she could see a woman huddled in the middle of them, her clothes were ripped and her face was bloody and bruised. They had been beating her up as she lay defenseless at their feet. Scumbags.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing." Lucy shouted across the clearing, easily getting the groups attention. The fragile looking woman let out a sigh of relief and attempted to crawl away but she was stopped by a boot to the back of her neck.

The man responsible for it ground his foot into her skin and let out a bitter laugh. "You ain't going anywhere sweetheart, you're our property now."

Lucy's blood began to boil as she started to run. Natsu was scrambling to his feet behind her and trying to call her back.

"Luce what are you doing? Leave it to me." She ignored his frantic voice and reached for the only thing she had left from her time spent with Ace.

Pulling on her gloves, she twisted her wrist and released her chain whip. It lashed out in front of her and secured itself around the lead male's ankle.

The barbed edges dug into his skin. She smirked at his cries of pain.

"That poor woman didn't cry out when you stomped your big ugly foot on her, you're pathetic."

This seemed to spur the man on, he bent down and ripped Lucy's whip from his flesh and yanked her forward by it. This she wasn't expecting. The serrated edges were slicing through his fingers like a hot knife through butter.

What surprised her even more was when the injured woman leapt onto the back of the lead pirates head and started to slap it repeatedly. It wasn't doing much damage to him but it distracted him enough so that Lucy could rip her weapon free.

It was now slick with his filthy blood. She'd have to buy something that she could clean it with later, the last thing she wanted was for it to get stained.

"Happy, get that girl to safety."

"Aye." The small blue exceed flew over her head and plucked her off the pirate's back and flew off into the distance.

Natsu was fighting three of the pirates crew mates behind her but she could feel his eyes focused only on her. While her eyes were solely focused on this sorry excuse for a pirate standing in front of her.

"So, you guys are pirates huh? You look like some kids in fancy dress." This seemed to hit a nerve as his hand went straight to his hat he was wearing.

It was a classic pirate hat, nothing like anything her crew wore. They were just normal guys that liked to find treasure and sail the sea.

They would never attack civilians and steal from innocent people. It was people like these that gave pirates a bad name.

To her crew, it was never about the money or hurting people. It was the freedom that came with being a member of that family. Ace gave them freedom.

"Avast matey, ye be goin' down." Lucy mimicked the man's voice as she propelled herself forward, catching him completely off guard and hitting him with the handle of her whip square in his crotch.

As she watched him crumple to the floor, Lucy dropped down to her knees and grabbed a handful of his hair. "This is how she felt, that woman you attacked. I bet you don't even know her name." Staring him dead in the eyes, she felt giddy as she took in the frightened look in his eyes. "You're not a pirate, you're a loser and a criminal."

The guy fell limp in her grasp and she let his greasy hair slip through her fingers so he fell to the ground with a soft thud. Her stomach was filled with butterflies after kicking some serious butt.

"Did you see how I hit him in the junk? Ace it was so co-" Her tongue fell dead in her mouth once she had realized her mistake.

"Who's Ace?"

* * *

"So I think it's pretty simple what we need to do guys. Answer me this question. Who is the strongest, most feared man that sails the seas?" Ace scanned the room but nobody spoke up.

"It's Whitebeard. So all we need to do is take him down and our rep will go through the roof."

Everybody stared back at him with blank wide eyes. They didn't have the same motivation that he did to pull this off, it was his job to make this happen, he was their captain.

"We can do this guys, it's just a case of tracking him down but leave that to me. I think I know of a place where someone might be able to help us."

His crew began to disperse, quietly talking amongst themselves as they left the room. Samson was the only person that remained.

"Well that went well." His voice was dripping with sarcasm as he patted Ace on the back.

"This is all I could think of, to make us more feared. I'm strong Sam, I can take him on. Have a little faith pal."

"I know you're strong but he's Whitebeard, he's a monster. Lucy wouldn't want you to get yourself killed over-"

Ace let out a growl as he collapsed onto a nearby table. "Yes I know she wouldn't, you don't need to tell me that. I just can't think of anything else."

Pulling out a map from inside his shirt, Ace rolled it out onto the table and pointed to a section that he had circled.

"This is where we can find Whitebeard's location. We'll start the sail there in the morning."

Since Lucy had left, well forcibly removed would probably be a better way of putting it, Ace rarely found himself returning to his room. It held too many memories of their time together.

The bed felt cold and uninviting, he was used to crawling in next to a snoring blonde who always managed to cover the entire mattress but now that he had all of the bed, he didn't want it.

He found himself huddling against one side, almost like he was saving room for her.

It had been a month since she had disappeared, the full moon had appeared the previous night.

Ace had sat on the top deck all night, just incase she came back home to him. His eyes were fixed on the rippling waves until the sun rose.

His hope of her returning disappeared with the moon.


	12. Chapter 12

The tips of Lucy's ears were beginning to burn from the intensity of Natsu's stare. She still had her back to him as she tried to laugh off her fatal mistake.

"Nobody. I meant, how awesome was that? We totally handed them a new one."

Shrugging off Ace's name like it was nothing was hard, all she wanted to do was tell Natsu how amazing and caring Ace was, how he had a younger brother who was similar to Natsu in every way and a crew that would risk life and limb for him.

The Spade pirates were a family, just like Fairy Tail. But she couldn't say all of those things so she did what had almost become second nature to her. She lied to him.

"You were incredible." As she finally turned around to face him, she was met with an extremely skeptical face as he stared at her. He didn't believe her.

 _'What is he going to say? Is he going to call me out on my lies?'_

Instead of mentioning her slip up again, his eyes glanced down to the whip that was being held tightly in her hand. "Where did you get that from? I've never seen you use it before."

His eyes examined the sharp edges of the weapon, that were now covered with the wannabe pirates blood. "In fact, I've never seen anything like that. Did you get that from Magnolia?"

Quickly wrapping up the whip and placing back into it's case, she let out a nervous laugh and started to gather the pirates together, ready for the town's police to take them to jail.

"It's a very old weapon that I've had since I lived with my father. I just felt like a bit of a change."

Finally meeting his gaze, she smiled at his confused face. "Change is always good, right?" His hand reached out and grasped her gloved one.

"Things can stay the same and be just as good Luce." His voice held a hint of desperation as he gripped onto her hand.

She smiled sadly at the dragon slayer and let her hand fall from his. It dangled limply at her side as she angled her body away from his. "I know they can."

This whole charade she was pulling off was ever so slowly falling apart at the seams, each time she told Natsu a lie, another stitch popped off. Soon she would be left with nothing to cover her lies with.

* * *

"We really don't feel like we've had a chance to have a good catch up with you since you came back." Mira had spent the last ten minutes trying to convince Lucy to come to the public baths with her and the rest of the Fairy Tail girls that were available. Of course, she couldn't.

Yet again she was having to hide her tattoo like a dirty little secret.

"I know, why don't we go out tonight and hit up Magnolia's finest?" Lisanna suddenly got herself all excited and started to bounce on the spot. "It's been ages since we've gotten dressed up all nice and danced our socks off."

Everybody voices their agreements except for Cana. The card mage was staring across the table at Lucy, it felt like her eyes were trying to penetrate her very soul.

"So Lucy." Cana said loudly, all the girls surrounding them soon quieted down to listen to what she had to say. "Where the hell have you been?"

For some reason, lying to Cana felt much worse than lying to Natsu and she had to physically push the words out of her mouth.

"I don't know Cana, sorry. I remember the sea and the beach, that's it." Cana made a sound of disbelief as she reached below the table and un-clipped something from her belt.

Her hands returned with a deck of cards, her fortune telling cards. Cana grinned at the unsettled look that had appeared on Lucy's face as she rubbed her hands together.

"May I read your fortune Lucy? I may be able to shed some light on what happened to you for the time you were away."

Mira looked at Lucy's now pale face and then looked back at Cana's, she couldn't understand the amount of tension that was in the air. It was a simple fortune telling, why was Lucy so nervous?

"Hey Lucy, if you don't-" She cut Mira off with a small smile and twisted in her seat to directly face Cana. "Go right ahead, I've got no problem with you reading my fortune."

The girls all crowded around the small table, all eager to see what the cards were about to reveal. What they saw was just down right confusing. Cana flipped over the first five cards, the ace of spades appeared on every single one.

Her brow furrowed as she examined the remainder of her deck. As she put down one card after another, the pattern was the same.

"The ace of spades?" Cana said bewildered as she spread the cards across the table.

 _'What the hell, this is so weird.'_

Lucy couldn't help it when a small giggled escaped from her lips at the ridiculousness of this. "What does that mean Cana? Does it reveal anything?"

The brunette took a long swig of her beer and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Fucked if I know, I tried. I agree with Lisanna's idea though, let's go get pretty and then get wasted."

As the girls started to clear out of the guild hall, Lucy rose to her feet and turned to leave also but her eyes were fixed on the abundance of aces still on the table.

Cana looked over her shoulder to see what was taking Lucy so long and watched as her fingers caressed the symbol that was printed on the cards.

A smug smile stretched her lips as she called for her to hurry up. Her cards never lied, she had a link to the ace of spades, something stronger than anything in this world.

Cana wouldn't rest until she found out what that link was.

* * *

Once they were all dressed up and ready to leave, the sun had already set and darkness had taken over the town so the nightclubs in town were already packed.

Lucy squeezed past the hordes of people with Juvia following closely behind her. The water mage refused to leave her side whenever they went out, she declared that she couldn't let her love rival out of her sight.

Especially since Gray was going to be coming out as well, Juvia was on high alert.

From what Lucy could see from the way the two acted with each other, she was pretty sure they were now more than friends. Gray appeared behind Juvia, sweeping her into his arms and planting a passionate kiss on her waiting lips.

 _'Whoa, way more than friends. Hello tongue entering Juvia's mouth.'_

A hand covered Lucy's wide eyes and directed her away from the tongue tied pair. "You don't need to see that, sorry Luce. We drank a little bit too much before coming here."

Natsu's voice was slurred and hard to understand but she knew it was him that was directing her to a nearby booth. She was thankful at being given the chance to sit down, wearing heels for the first time in months was seriously taking a toll on her.

"You look very pretty tonight." She graciously accepted his compliment and let her body fall against the padded bench below her.

Natsu's head collided with the table with a loud crack, fully capturing Lucy's attention. "Oh my gosh Natsu, are you okay?" Her fingers pressed gently against the side of his head to feel for any damage.

A long groan sounds from his lips and he opened his eyes to stare at her. They were overflowing with so many different emotions that she couldn't identify a single one.

His slightly chapped lips parted as he inhaled sharply. "Do you want to know how I know something has changed with you?"

She continued to stare at him in confusion but nodded for him to continue. "You haven't kicked me once since you came back, you didn't scold me for leaving you on that lilo and not keeping an eye on you. I shouldn't have let you out of my sight, I'm so sorry."

His voice cracked as all of the things he had been hiding from her were starting to overflow and leak out.

"You didn't seem happy to see me, when I found you. You looked disappointed." Like he had flipped a switch inside himself, Natsu suddenly returned to his normal carefree self. "Sorry, I've probably just drank too much. I'm okay." Lucy's hand flew out and grasped his.

"I was a pirate." She blurted out.

 _'Why did I say that? He's going to think I'm crazy.'_

He stared blankly at her for a few seconds and then his body was overcome with fits of laughter. Lucy released his hand and glared at him.

 _'This is why I can't tell anyone what happened to me, there's no way in hell anybody would believe me.'_

Fighting through his laughter, Natsu held Lucy in a tight hug. His warm breath was tickled her neck as he spoke. His words sent shivers down her spine.

"The first day you came back, I stayed by your side all night. You spoke in your sleep about Pirates, about Ace. Don't lie to me anymore Lucy."

"Okay." She murmured back. She had finally cracked. To anybody looking on, they were two lovers locked in an embrace but in reality, they were two friends falling apart.

* * *

"Okay Ace, we're here. Are you sure this is the right place? Seems pretty deserted." Ace and Samson walked ahead of the rest of the crew as they made their way across a deserted island of sorts.

There was one person here, someone who knew exactly where he Whitebeard was.

It was just finding the bastard that was proving difficult.

"He's a 9ft fish man, we can't really miss him. He's hardly inconspicuous and-" Samson started to smack Ace's arm and gestured towards their left hand side.

 _'And there he is.'_

"Hey big guy." Ace's voice echoed across the empty field, his crew mates cringed at his choice of words but stayed at their captain's side regardless of their own fears. "I bet you can put me in touch with Whitebeard."

The giant man sneered at Ace, clearly not happy at being disturbed.

"You might be right but you'd still lose that bet. Maybe I could introduce you but I won't."

His crew members started to realize who exactly this creature was that their captain was planning on facing off against and started to shout for him to retreat. "Captain, don't you realize that's Jinbei?"

 _'Like I didn't already know that.'_

Even if this fish man refused to help Ace get in contact with Whitebeard, kicking his butt into next week was a good way to gain some notoriety. "Oh yeah, the warlord, beating him might bring us some prestige then."

Jinbei angled himself in such a way that he was preparing to take Ace on in a head to head fight and the Spade captain welcomed it.

"I'm my own pirate, I'm not part of Whitebeard's crew but I owe him one so let's see what you got."

With the okay from him, Ace launched his body off the ground and flew towards the warlord with everything he had. The sounds of their fight could be heard for days, neither of them letting up even an inch.

On the fifth day of their battle, Ace was the victor. Jinbei's body hit the floor with a booming thud, Ace's quickly following. The two lay exhausted on the floor, muscles aching and fists burning.

But his rest was short lived as a thick mist soon covered their playing field. The shouts of his crew could be faintly heard over the white noise that was rushing through his ears.

"I heard one of you boys has made it your life's mission to see me dead." A gruff voice shouted through the noise in Ace's head, he could hear it loud and clear. "You wanna fight? I'm here to grant your wish."

"It's the Whitebeard pirates Ace, you did it." Samson sounded equally frightened as he did excited.

"One of me is enough for all of you." Whitebeard declared with a smug grin on his face.

 _'He's here, I can do this.'_

Ace pushed his battered body off the ground and watched as the fearsome Whitebeard approached him.

"Bring it on." Ace spat out.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N I can't apologize enough for the wait on this chapter, silly me had silly things going on in my life and I kept getting interrupted while writing this. Thank you all so much for the reviews and follows, I love writing this story so much, it is my favorite one I've created and I hope you like where I'm going with it. It really does mean a lot when you review or message me about it so again, thank you.**

Pulling up his bisento, Whitebeard struck at the Spade pirates that had come to their captain's rescue. Bodies flew across the open field and Ace cringed at their cries of pain.

He would not allow this to happen, this was his fight. As Whitebeard's footsteps boomed closer and closer, he grabbed his first mate, a look of desperation etched on his face.

"Sam, take the guys and get out of here. Don't worry about me, just get them back to the ship and get the hell away from this place. This isn't their fight, it's mine."

Samson shook his head and attempted to pull Ace away from the pirate that was quickly approaching.

"Are you joking? Ace, you're coming with us. He's too strong, I don't think you fully thought this through."

Letting out a growl of annoyance, Ace pushed his first mate away with such force that he fell back far enough that he could separate himself and Whitebeard away from his crew.

Giving Samson a mock salute, his eyes quickly scanned the area they were in for any other members of his crew and once he was sure they were all far enough back, with the last ounce of his strength, used his powers to create a wall of fire surrounding himself and the fearsome Whitebeard.

A deep chuckle recaught his attention, Whitebeard had a huge smile on his face as he stared down at his opponent. "Are you going to run away now?" Taking on a fighting stance, Ace tried to ignore the shots of pain coursing through his body and focus on the only thing that mattered, which was Whitebeard.

"I'm allowing my crew to escape, I stand in their place, I will not run." He spat the words out like they were poison in his mouth. Running away had never and would never cross his mind during a fight, especially one he had initiated.

Ace would stay until the bitter end, whatever happened, happened.

"What a cheeky little brat you are." Ace's words seemed to amuse the legendary pirate, like he had never heard someone talk to him with such disrespect. This caused Ace's rage to burn brighter as he propelled himself forwards with no thoughts in his head except victory.

Whitebeard reacted almost instantly and brought his bisento forward, successfully striking a deadly blow to Ace's chest.

As the blade sliced through his skin like a knife through hot butter, the young pirate's knees gave out and he hit the ground, his exhaustion had finally settled in and he was quickly losing consciousness.

Whitebeard stared down at him with an unreadable expression, silently waiting for his next move.

 _'So this is it, this is Whitebeards power. I'm so stupid, his aura is radiating pure power. How could I ever think I could beat such a force?'_

"I believe in you Ace." His eyes popped open at the sound of Lucy's voice echoing in his head. Of course she wasn't actually there. If he didn't beat this man standing over him, he would lose any chance of ever seeing her smiling face again.

He would never be able to sail the seas and find the one piece. He would never be able to answer his question of should he have ever been born? Ace was certain that if anyone would be able to answer him that question, it would have been her.

Lucy had revealed so many things to him that had previously been unknown. She was like his muse that always put him in his place.

Never in his life had he ever met such a kind and caring person, his heart was clenching in his chest as he was flooded with all the memories he had of their time together.

It was such a short amount of time but she had made such an impact on his life, he was struggling to live without her and that was why he had sent himself on this death mission.

Ace knew that he had overestimated his own strength just out of pure desperation. If he was the strongest pirate on the seas, he could surely get back the girl he loves.

And then the penny dropped.

 _'The girl I...love?'_

"I'd hate to see you die here kid." Whitebeard's voice interrupted his thoughts, it was no longer vicious and full of power, but much softer and brimming with compassion.

"If you still want to fight, then take my name and roam the seas wild and free." Leaning down slightly, the fearsome pirate, who was known for his ruthlessness and his overwhelming strength, was holding his hand out for Ace to take.

This man knew what a broken and vulnerable boy Ace was, he could see straight through his facade, just like Lucy could.

"Become my son."

* * *

Natsu and Lucy had talked long into the night, with him asking questions and her answering them as well as she could. She had to admit, it had never felt so good to tell the truth.

After lying to someone for so long, a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders and she felt that she could finally breathe easy.

It was great and Lucy swore on every hair on her head that she would never lie again or go bald if she did. "So, you met a pirate who can't swim?" Lucy rolled her eyes at Natsu's words, was that all that he had taken in from their lengthy discussion?

"Yes Natsu, I met a pirate that can't swim. He's also a fire magic user, you two would probably get along great." The dragon slayer mumbled under his breath about how lame Ace sounded, it just made Lucy chuckle.

Nothing made her sadder than the thought that she had two families that could never meet each other. There was a huge risk each time that someone traveled through the tear in time, a risk that it would just tear you apart at the seams.

But she was willing to take that chance, one last time. After multiple talks with her trusty celestial spirit, Grandpa Crux had finally managed to come up with a possible way of making Lucy stay in the other world, permanently. It would just be extremely difficult, nothing good was ever easy.

"You have to find a devil fruit?" Natsu stared at her like she was on drugs. Nobody in Fiore would have ever heard of such a thing because it was something that only resided in the land where Ace lived.

"I'm going to travel back through the rip in time and I will have one month to find a devil fruit." Lucy realized she sounded utterly insane but according to Grandpa Crux, this was the only thing that would work.

The land that Lucy had been transported to, thought of her as something that did not belong there and after a month, when the tear reappeared, had sucked her back through to her own realm.

If she were to ingest something that would change the DNA in her body, she would then turn into something that that realm thought of, not as an abnormality but as something that was meant to be there.

It was her only hope. Only when the devil fruit's magic takes over her body would she be able to remain there. Or so hers and Crux's theory went.

"I won't stop you from leaving. I just want you to be happy. If it means losing you, so be it." Lucy was shocked at his words and tears started to fill her eyes.

Natsu would always have a huge part of her heart, but she knew that she didn't belong there anymore.

This world had never been kind to her, it was time to start another adventure.

* * *

"Today's the day." Lucy had packed up all of her things into neat little boxes and labelled who she wanted to have what. If she didn't, it would literally be a free for all and her landlady would take everything. She dreaded the thought of people in Magnolia seeing her clad in Lucy's clothes.

 _'Those poor souls.'_

As she taped the last box shut, instead of feeling sad, she felt content. She may be leaving her family behind, but they would survive and thrive.

If Fairy Tail were anything, they were strong. They would miss her but she would not be forgotten. Lucy, their celestial mage, would live on in their memories. While she would live on the high seas.

The excitement of being reunited with Ace was almost killing her, but was being overshadowed by the fact that nobody in Fairy Tail knew that she was leaving, except Natsu. And she desperately wanted to keep it that way.

She knew it was selfish but there was nothing Lucy hated more than goodbyes. And saying goodbye to her guild would be heartbreaking.

"Ready to go Luce?" Natsu had appeared at her front door, with a gentle smile on his face. She felt so silly for worrying about how Natsu would react when in reality, he was handling it better than she was.

Her mind was too focused on the task ahead to actually realize how strange Natsu's behavior actually was.

"Yeah." She breathed out, taking one last glance over her shoulder at her home, she shut the door and took the first step towards freedom.

"One down, one to go."

As they walked side by side to the guild hall, she silently said goodbye to all the sights and sounds that she would never hear again. The jingle of the door opening at the local bakers where Natsu and Gajeel had eaten everything they had baked and then had a fight to decide who was going to front the bill.

In the end, Lucy had ended up paying for their food bill and the repairs bill.

Or the river that she had walked along for so many years, constantly being warned to be careful not to fall in. It almost made her want to jump in, just as her farewell to it. Before she knew it, they had arrived at the guild hall and she was so not prepared.

Grasping onto Natsu's warm hand, she tried to compose herself. "If you don't want to do this, you don't have to Luce. You could always st-"

"No. I want to, it's just so hard to say goodbye to something that means so much to me."

Natsu nodded silently, understanding and knowing that no more words were needed. "Come on then, let's go say our not so good byes."

Pushing open the heavy guild doors, the pair were greeted with the usual sounds of people laughing and people fighting.

She immediately started to quickly go around the guild, giving people advice that she had always wanted to, scolding who deserved it and hugging everyone.

When she approached Gray, he frowned at her facial expression and opened his arms hesitantly for a hug that she was waiting for.

"Luce, what's going on?" Feeling her eyes start to well up, she pressed her body against his cool torso and squeezed tightly.

"You're a great friend Gray but you really have no clue. Give Juvia a chance, she's really something special. Like a snowflake." Gazing over his shoulder, Lucy winked at the furious looking water mage who was standing nearby.

"She's one of a kind."

Pulling away, she patted his shoulder and turned to leave. She had given her not so good byes to everyone and was ready to part ways. As she walked to the guild's doors, Lucy raised her hand up into the air, creating a symbol that was very special to her guild.

A sign that meant even if she couldn't see them anymore, no matter how far away she was, she would always be watching them.

Unbeknownst to Lucy, every single member of Fairy Tail raised their hand into the air in an identical gesture. As she left Fairy Tail for the last time, tears streamed down her face and her heart threatened to implode.

"We'll get going now, I'll go with you to the beach. I want to be with you when you go." Natsu was no longer smiling as they walked away from the guild hall and into a waiting carriage.

As they sat down on the padded seats, Lucy was shocked to see Natsu calmly close his eyes once it started to move, instead of turning green and moaning the entire trip. He was silent as the dead.

Not a lot was said between them for the entirety of the journey, the tight grip they had on each others hands said more than words ever could.

"This is the place, that'll be ten thousand jewel." Lucy handed the driver the very last of her money and hopped out of the carriage where Natsu was already standing. His face was fixed on the crashing waves looming in front of them.

"Summon Aquarius."

Lucy knew that Aquarius was the best spirit for the job, she was her strongest spirit but also a water spirit.

 _'I just hope she makes it a bit smoother than last time.'_

"Open, gate of the water bearer, Aquarius."

The celestial spirit emerged from the ocean and kept silent. She knew what was happened was an extremely touchy subject and no matter how much she wanted to moan at Lucy for summoning her, she respected her enough to keep quiet, just this once.

"So." Lucy said softly, still holding onto Natsu's hand. "This is is." Pulling her in for a tight hug, he stuck his head into the crook of her neck and inhaled deeply, as if memorizing the scent of her.

With her body wrapped around the dragon slayers, she missed the interaction between her celestial spirit and Natsu.

Before she knew what was happening, their bodies had been thrown into the waiting ocean and Aquarius's magic was appearing all around them, ripping open the tear and sucking them through.

After an agonizing moment of pure darkness, Lucy's head broke the surface of the water, with a look around, she was certain they were no longer in Fiore and almost definitely where she wanted to be.

As she kicked her legs out, it collided with something soft and squidgy.

A head of pink hair was floating along side her, along with a large toothy grin.

"I couldn't let you come alone now could I."


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N Thank you for the reviews everyone, how will Natsu survive in a land full of boats? He will struggle heh. Here we go, chapter fourteen!**

 _'How the hell did this happen?'_

One minute he was telling the old geezer to shut up, for having the nerve to ask him to join his crew. The next, he was waking up in a cabin that was not his own, surrounded by things that were definitely not his.

After finding out from one of the crew members that he had passed out cold at their captain's feet, they had carried him on board the Moby Dick and set sail.

Before he could slice off the guys head for kidnapping him, a familiar voice caused his dagger to slip through his fingers and clatter to the floor. "Calm down, they invited us too."

Samson appeared from behind the Whitebeard pirate that was known as Thatch and smiled reassuringly at him.

"They're not bad guys, they want us to join their crew and I think we should listen to what they have to say."

 _'Join their crew?'_

Ace shook his head as he continued to stare at his first mate. "You want to actually abandon the Spades and join them? Are you kidding me?"

The hurt was evident in his voice as he turned away from the two men and collapsed against the bed frame. Clearly his body still hadn't recovered from all the trauma it had received from the long fight with the damn warlord.

He couldn't blame any of his fatigue on Whitebeard. As he twisted his body slightly, a blinding pain radiated from the side of his abdomen.

Thatch winced as he grinned down at Ace.

"Yeah, about that. The cap got you real good before you fell and ate dirt. I've been keeping it clean for you but you probably don't want to be moving around too much."

Ace glanced down at his side, he could clearly see the wound that he was referring to. A large jagged wound stretched from his rib cage to the middle of his back. He was glad he hadn't been conscious to feel the full extent of the injury as it had been healing. From the looks of the wound, he had been unconscious for three, maybe four days.

"You've been out cold for four days." Ace looked at Samson who he had now noticed was carrying a huge tray full of different kinds of food.

"Is that for me?" Laughing, he placed it in front of Ace and took a step back. "It can be if you want it to be, just be sure to thank Thatch, he's the one who took the time to make it for you."

 _'Why is he being nice to me and making me food? I want to kill his captain.'_

"Yeah." Ace scratched the back of his neck and glanced up awkwardly at the Whitebeard crew member. "Thanks."

This seemed to be more than enough for the man and he slapped Ace solidly on his back, soon remembering his mistake and apologizing profusely as Ace bent over in crippling agony from the jolt to his wound.

"Sorry buddy, forgot you were wounded, oops."

 _'This man is an idiot.'_ He thought as he glanced up through his hair at the pirate. But he seemed, happy? A lot happier than any of the pirates in his own crew did. What was Whitebeard doing that he wasn't?

"I want to see your captain, right now." Swallowing his pride was something that Ace had never been all too good at doing but if it was the right thing to do for his crew who were like family to him, he would choose it every time. He knew that it was his own pride that was stopping him from wanting to join the Whitebeard pirates.

Who wouldn't want to join the most notorious group of pirates to ever sail the seas?

 _'What was that saying, if you can't beat them, join them?'_

If he couldn't beat the strongest man in the world, he would learn what exactly made the great pirate Whitebeard great. He would learn how he stood as an equal with his own father, the pirate king.

Once he had done all this and grown in himself, he would be able to face Lucy and the rest of the world.

"Sure kid, he's waiting for you." After Thatch had led them to his captains quarters, he turned to face Samson and pulled a face.

"Probably be best if you could wait outside. He wants to talk to Ace, captain to captain." Samson looked over at Ace, for confirmation that him going on alone would be okay.

"That's fine, I'll be okay Sam. I doubt Whitebeard would be as dishounarable as to strike down an injured guest onboard his own ship." And with that, Ace disappeared behind the wooden door and entered the lions den.

"He'll be fine, Captain sees something in him, in all of you. He wouldn't just invite anyone to become part of the crew." Samson looked warily at the door his captain had just vanished behind, Thatch's words made sense to him but if this Whitebeard was so fearsome, why would he want a bunch of misfit pirates to join his esteemed crew?

"I know what you're thinking." Thatch had a warm smile on his face as his eyes stared off into the distance. "Why would he just invite a bunch of people aboard his ship when they had previously wanted to collect his head? He's a fearsome man but still a man after all. You gained his respect."

Samson couldn't help the stupid smile that spread across his lips. The spade pirates were respected by the world's most feared man? That would be enough to make any pirate happy.

His eyes flickered to the closed door that the two captains were being kept behind. It all depended on how Ace handled the situation now and if he could swallow his pride, for every ones sakes, he hoped so but he wouldn't blame him if he couldn't.

Taking a step further into his room, all Ace could hear was seriously heavy breathing and the whirring of machines. His eyes widened at the sleeping form of Whitebeard before him.

He was hooked up to various types of machinery that he could only assume was for his health. Taking another step forward, his breath caught in his throat as the man's eyes cracked open.

"Gonna take me up on my offer kid? Want to become a part of my family?" As no words were willing to leave his lips, he simply nodded his head ever so slightly but this was enough for Whitebeard to re close his eyes and let out a rough sigh.

"Welcome, my son."

* * *

"I hate you." Lucy mumbled as they bobbed along the water's surface. With her legs dangling across Natsu's back, she was sat high on his shoulders as she tried to support both their weight and swim towards the land that could be seen in the distance.

"Love you too Luce. Can we switch now and you swim with me on top?" She simply ignored his request but slid off his back and began to swim alongside him.

"You might get stuck here Natsu, I don't fully understand the rules of the tear, are you stupid or-" Shaking her head, Lucy let out a maniacal laugh and smacked the water around her.

"No, of course you're stupid, no sane person would follow someone to another land where they might get trapped."

Natsu stayed silent as she continued to rant, they swam until their limbs burnt and the sky turned dark. It had been night the first time she had landed in this strange world and she knew what lurked under these waters, they needed to get to the land and quick. It wasn't far now, they just needed to move faster.

All of her spirits would be useless right now and she couldn't expect them to do the work while she simply sat by and allowed them to carry her. Even though she knew they would all do it, she would never ask them to.

Even if Natsu hadn't of come with her, she would have still landed in the same place and would have had to swim all this way. Even if she was furious with him tagging along, a part of her was happy that he had. It was nice not to be alone.

Maybe Natsu's keen sense of smell would be able to help her track down Ace quicker. Her face dropped at the thought.

 _'Except, I don't have anything of his to track him with.'_

The waves were starting to get extremely choppy as it got further and further into the night, the only light they had was from the moon and since it was nothing more than a sliver, it was minimal at best.

"Lucy hold my hand, I'm going to get us the rest of the way." Placing her wet hand in his, she was surprised at speed he traveled at, just to get them away from danger.

Using every ounce left of his strength, Natsu managed to drag them onto the beach of the island and collapsed, face first.

"Night." Natsu mumbled into the sand.

Walking past his flopped body, Lucy's feet carried her up the sandy bank to an extremely scorched area of land.

 _'It couldn't be.'_

Scanning the area, there was nobody to be seen. Except…

"A giant ship!" Lucy couldn't believe her eyes. Right there, was the Spade Pirates ship. Had the tear gotten her close to where Ace was on purpose?

Her breath came out in harsh pants as she ran like her life depended on it. After climbing up on board, she had a horrible feeling in her gut at the wreck that awaited her.

Everything that could be turned upside down, had been. There was just destruction all around her. But no bodies or blood anywhere to be seen.

 _'There was definitely a struggle here but why are there no casualties?'_

Lucy's body knew this ship well so it knew exactly where to take her to find him. Before she knew it, she was running.

"Nobodies here, except me." As she took a step into the room, she was met with the sight of a huge creature. Staring unflinchingly at him, she continued walking into the room and sat down on the bed that she shared with Ace for that short month.

His scent was everywhere, completely overwhelming her senses. It proved to her that she was close, so close to reaching him.

"Where is Ace?" Lucy's voice shocked her, it sounded strong and so unlike her. "Gone. With Captain Whitebeard, along with his crew. You should get off this ship, I'll be keeping watch over it until they return. You don't belong here girl."

Lifting up her vest, she revealed her spade pirate tattoo and stuck her tongue out at the giant fish looking man. His eyes examined the tattoo and lifted up to her face.

"You're a member of the Spade Pirates?" His voice was gruff but he believed her when she nodded her head, without saying anything more, he rose from his seat in the corner of the room and turned to leave.

"I'm Jinbei, take good care of the ship. I hope you get reuinted with them."

As she watched the strange looking man leave, she tugged on his cloak that he was wearing and peered up at him, somehow her eyes had filled up with tears without her noticing.

"Are they okay? Ace, Samson, Slough?" His eyes softened as he listened to her name off the rest of the pirates.

"They were fine, just didn't want to leave, last I saw they were headed east. The ship they're sailing on is called the Moby Dick. Everybody knows who the Whitebeard pirates are so they shouldn't be too hard to find."

And with that, he disappeared out the doorway and off the ship.

"I'm coming Ace." She whispered to herself.

As she let her body fall against the bed, her hand slipped underneath one of the pillows and felt something tucked in the corner. As curiosity got the better of her, she pulled out the piece of material and all the oxygen left her body. It was one of her t-shirts that she always wore to bed, Ace had kept it with him whilst he slept?

Grasping the pillow, she hugged it against her body and let the tears flow.

"Hey Luce, why are you crying?" Natsu had appeared at some point and was slowly brushing the hair out of her face. As she stared at him, she couldn't help the giant grin that stretched her face.

"We're going to find him with this ship, this is my pirate ship now Natsu. You decided to come along with me so you'll have to deal with the motion sickness."

His face turned a shade of green, as if he hadn't even considered this.

"We're going to be on this ship, on the ocean?"

Lucy nodded her head, her smile now turned sadistic. "Yep. For **days** at a time."

"Oh no."

* * *

With the help of Loke and Virgo, who could do the work of several people at once, they had the ship crashing through the ocean within an hour. They were now on their way.

"East, we need to go east." Virgo saluted her master and got to work on changing the trajectory of the ship. They were all working together to help, except for Natsu. He was crawling on his hands and knees across the deck, looking pitiful.

Lucy leaned over his slack form and cupped her hands around her mouth. "Pull yourself together maggot, get back to work."

Getting to his feet was hard enough but he managed to waddle back over to his station of manning the sails. An easy job for a sea sick fool.

The sea air was heavenly on her lungs and Lucy couldn't contain her happiness.

 _'Now we just need to find Ace and then find a devil fruit, sounds easy enough.'_

 **"It's the spade pirates, get 'em!"**

Lucy glanced sideways and her mouth dropped to the floor. A huge pirate ship had appeared alongside them and were shouting at the ship.

"Oh shit." she muttered. Natsu glanced up from his spot on the floor and just moaned loudly.

"Come on princess." Loke announced, holding his hand out for her to take. "Let's go show these people that that's not how to show respect to the new queen of spades."

 _'Queen of Spades? I like the sound of that.'_


	15. Chapter 15

"You're as fierce as the rumors said." Lucy's booted foot was resting atop the pirate captains head as she stared menacingly down at him.

With Natsu out of commission, it was just her and her two most trusted celestial spirits left to defeat a mob of enemy pirates, it was almost too easy.

It made her think about how these amateurs would have handled the real Spade Pirates, they would have definitely been burnt to a crisp. They were very lucky it had been her aboard the ship and not Ace and the rest of the crew.

"Why did you attack us?" Lucy's voice was stern and cold as she tried to get information out of the beaten man. Grinding his teeth together, he looked across at the unconscious forms of his comrades and sighed. He knew he was fighting a losing battle.

"There's a bounty for Fire Fist Ace, a lot of jewel. We thought we had nothing to lose when we saw you sailing past. Is he not aboard?"

His eyes were riddled with confusion as he looked up at the giant sail that was flying the Spade Pirates emblem.

"Actually, you're not a member of this crew are you? Where are the pirates that own this ship? Who are you?"

Grinding the heel of her foot into his skull, she stared daggers down at him.

"I am a member of the Spade Pirates and you sir need to learn some respect."

Feeling like she was now wasting her time talking to this buffoon, she removed her foot and hopped over the board used to link the two ships together and landed back on the deck of her own vessel.

"I'll let you and your crew live today but don't cross us again. I will not show you mercy twice."

Her inner self giggled at how fearsome she sounded, there was no way she'd actually murder anybody but this guy didn't know that. Normally, pirates **would** kill people who tried to attack them.

It was kind of a rule that didn't need to be said and that was why the Spade Pirates had apparently gained a reputation in such a short amount of time. Because of their brutality. And since she was on their ship and sailing under their flag, she would be recognized as such.

On their rise to fame they had left many burning shipwrecks in their wake.

In Lucy's eyes, the whole of her crew were a bunch of softies that were incredibly friendly and caring but the way they acted with other pirates was a different matter entirely.

This was a very cruel world and if you showed mercy to the wrong people, they would have your head. But she had much more important things to attend to, killing a pitiful man was not that high on her agenda.

Looking over at Loke, she suddenly had an idea. An idea of how to possibly get her name out there and possibly get the attention of some pirates. They liked to gossip to each other, maybe someone would mention her to the Whitebeard pirates?

It was a long shot but she was willing to try anything that would increase her chances of being reunited with Ace and her crew. From what she had been told, the marines would make wanted posters for any pirate that gained even the smallest amount of notoriety. This was her chance.

"Hey Loke, I do like the sound of being called the Queen of Spades but I feel like that's trampling too much on Ace. How about the Queen of Hearts instead?" She peeked at the enemy pirate to make sure he was listening to what she was saying.

 _'Remember that name idiot. Let people know. Let Ace know.'_

"You're already the queen of my heart." Loke had a love struck expression on his face as he played along perfectly with her.

Her belly grumbled loudly, catching her attention and making her realize that she hadn't actually eaten since they had came here. "Let's go." And with that, they left the beaten crew behind and hoped they had done enough.

* * *

"Natsu, where have you crawled off to? We'll be on land soon I promise." Searching the ship for her sick friend was something she should not have to be doing.

Natsu had made the choice to come with her, he should deal with the consequences. But his pitiful face whenever he suffered with motion sickness just melted her heart. He looked like a little kid that she just wanted to look after.

"Loke, Virgo, I won't have the energy to keep you here for much longer and I don't expect you to use your own." Lucy pointed to a nearby island that they were close to. "Can you get us over there? Once we're anchored, you guys can go back to the celestial realm."

Virgo bowed deeply at Lucy and slapped Loke around the head. "Stop having dirty thoughts about our princess." The two spirits had a older brother, younger sister relationship and Virgo was always putting him in his place, it was far too amusing.

Loke, not even defending himself, rubbed the back of his head and went to steer the ship while Virgo manned ten other jobs. It was amazing how two people could do the work of an entire crew. They were truly incredible.

After searching for fifteen minutes, Lucy was about ready to give up when a soft glow underneath Ace's bedroom door caught her attention. She had been used to seeing this as Ace would often be playing around with his fire magic, it was something he had described as beautiful.

As he wasn't born with the ability to manipulate fire, he appreciated it a lot more now that he could.

The way the flames licked over his tanned skin was almost hypnotic, they would sit on the top deck of the ship for hours, just watching it together.

The flames sometimes had a mind of their own and would flicker out towards her but Ace would always extinguish them before they came into contact. His freckled cheeks would glow with embarrassment every time it happened, she now wished she had asked why.

Slowly pushing the door open, she couldn't curb the disappointment she felt when of course it was Natsu sitting in the corner of the room, not Ace.

Ace wasn't here anymore.

Natsu's back was against the far wall and he seemed to be trying to make himself as small as possible.

His face was an odd shade of gray while his eyes were glossed over and bloodshot.

"Natsu." She said cautiously as she approached his hunched form. Her wide chestnut eyes stayed fixed on Natsu's flaming hand.

It wasn't very smart for someone unstable from sickness to be playing with fire on a wooden boat.

"Are you feeling alright?" Looking up through his hair, he smiled sadly at her. "This room smells like you. Your scent always calms me down but this is his room isn't it?"

She nodded and sat down in front of him. "This was Ace's room. Please don't burn it down before he's able to come back." As if only just realizing that he was emitting the only light in the room, he closed his fist and put it out.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you up there."

"Why don't you try and get some sleep? I'll come set up a room for you, there are a lot of hammocks for you to sleep in."

This seemed to perk him up a bit and he slowly pulled himself up off the floor. "I do like hammocks." Leading him to the bedrooms of the other pirates further down the ship, Natsu quickly fell asleep and started to snore softly.

* * *

"This place is disgusting." Lucy moaned as she hopped over puddles full of rubbish and toxic looking waste. It would just be their luck that the first island they dock at would be in this state.

"Maybe this is a devil fruit Luce?" She didn't know why she even bothered looking at what Natsu was holding in his hands. Something that was as rare and mystical as a devil fruit would not be lying on an island like this.

She knew so little about them, how she was going to find one was a complete mystery. They came in all shapes and sizes.

The thing Natsu was holding was full of maggots and half rotten, before she realized what she was doing, her leg flew out and kicked the fruit out of his hands and it hit him square in the face.

"Oh my gosh." Cupping her hands over her face, she couldn't decide whether to laugh or gag. Pieces of decomposed fruit were hanging from some strands of his hair and his face was covered in vile smelling juice.

"Lucy." He said through tight lips. "I'd run now." His body was soon engulfed in a bright flame, it heated up the area around him and was quickly spreading.

"You idiot." Lucy squealed as she ran for her life across the marshland while Natsu roared with laughter, quickly following her.

* * *

Ace had easily settled into the life of being a Whitebeard pirate, not being the captain anymore was a huge weight off his shoulders. He was so obsessed with gaining a reputation that he had gone in head first without actually realizing how stressful the job really was.

Now, he was just a crew mate and he couldn't of been happier about it.

He could concentrate on finding Lucy now. After having a long, drunken talk with Whitebeard of all people about it, he had spoken a lot of sense. Sometimes, you needed an outside perspective of the situation.

"So, you've lost the love of your life huh?" The two were sat in Whitebeard's private quarters, sharing a barrel of ale and some food.

"Yeah." Ace said drunkenly.

"She got sucked away into a magic tear in time." Whitebeard ceased his drinking and leaned towards Ace, he had clearly peaked the man's interest.

"What do you mean by that boy? Do you mean someone stole her away?"

Ace made some motions with his hands. "Yeah, a tear in time. She was from a whole other world old man, she used these weird keys to summon people from yet another world. She was like an angel."

After explaining it all ten times over to the older man, Whitebeard had told Ace not to give up hope. If she could only return when the moon was full, the chance that she had returned already was rather high if she wanted to stay.

"I don't know much about magic but with something as serious as that, I imagine it can only be done so many times."

Now it was Ace that was listening intently.

"She may be back in this land right now and just can't find her way back to you. It's a big ocean and she's just one little girl."

Whitebeard had given him hope that Lucy had come back and he just had to find her. He would search everywhere in this damn world if he got her back and could tell her how much she meant to him.

He had only realized just what his feelings meant once she was gone. How cliche.

"She's one fine looking lass. Heard she wiped the floor with Crowley and his crew."

Ace was passing by a group of pirates huddled around a small table on the top deck, their eyes were locked on a wanted poster, the amount of jewel they were offering for the persons capture was such a small amount that he was surprised that they'd even bothered printing it.

"What do you think Ace, isn't she easy on the eyes?" As he took the poster to examine, his eyes widened and he gripped it tightly. "That's-"

"Lucy." Samson had appeared behind his shoulder and was staring in awe at the paper. He was certain. It was quite a bad picture but that was definitely Lucy.

The old geezer was right.

The picture was of her standing on the top deck of the Spade Pirates ship, her hair was flowing over her shoulders and she was staring into the distance. Looking for him, hopefully.

His eyes locked onto something in the background of the picture. It was a guy, hunched on the floor, he looked seriously sea sick.

"Dude, he's got pink hair." Ace rolled his eyes at Samson's comment.

 _'Who is that guy with her? Where is she?'_

She must have been to the island where he fought with Jinbei and Whitebeard to have gotten the ship. Where could she be sailing now? How can she be sailing the whole ship with just two people?

Ace's stomach was swimming with butterflies, he hadn't felt this kind of happiness in months. She was really back.

As he read the rest of the wanted poster, he giggled softly to himself. "The Queen of hearts huh? Seems fitting."

The search for each other was now fully on.

"Are you ready to start Sam?" Ace secured his hat on the top of his head and grinned at his best friend.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N Hello everyone, back with another chapter. I'm toying with ideas on what type of Devil Fruit to introduce into the story for Lucy to search for, a couple of people have let me know their ideas but I wanted to see if there was anything anybody else had in mind. As always, thank you so much for following this story and giving me such kind reviews.**

"Well that was a complete waste of our time." Lucy let out a long sigh as she hopped over the broken door Natsu had shattered when they had had a minor dispute with the landlord of a bar they were passing. It seemed that she was already a well known pirate even after only being in one fight with a pathetic excuse for a crew.

"Maybe we should just go back for the night and get some sleep?" Natsu sounded like he was already asleep as he plodded alongside the perky blonde. Lucy couldn't sleep, she wouldn't. Ace was here somewhere in this damn place, she just needed to find out where. Asking about him or Whitebeard just got her shady looks and the cold shoulder.

Apparently he wasn't the most popular guy out there. Pirates were shunned by society, all because they wanted the freedom that the vast ocean could offer them, regular land dwellers simply couldn't understand that and people fear what they do not understand.

"You'll have to sleep on the dock, there's no way you'll get even a wink of sleep on that rocking ship." At the mention of their current mode of transportation, Natsu's face crumpled and he keeled over slightly. Even the thought of the waves shaking his body caused his motion sickness to take ahold.

It was something she liked to take advantage of. "Oh yeah." Lucy groaned loudly and held her stomach. "The gentle swaying of the boat on the ocean, moving you from side to side. I think even-"

"Enough." Natsu roared as he ran past her to a side alley and hurled up whatever he had shoved down his throat at their short rendezvous to the passing bar. Which as it turned out was a huge amount.

Never underestimate how much food Natsu Dragneel could consume in five minutes, especially when he was desperate. He turned into a hamster who stored it for a time when he was in dire need of something.

After searching tirelessly for the past two days, she had decided that it was time for the two of them to rest. The thought of being on such a short time schedule was driving her crazy. In less than a month she had to find Ace and then somehow get her hands on a super rare devil fruit so she could actually stay otherwise this time, it might actually be goodbye for them both and she was not about to let that happen.

As she walked down the deserted high street in her high heeled boots, she couldn't help but feel an ominous air appear. Somebody with an agenda was nearby, and not a good one. Her hand instinctively traveled down her body to where her celestial keys and whip were.

"Get out of my shop you filthy pig." A loud commotion scared the aura away and it disappeared along with whoever it was that was creating it.

Lucy suppressed the shudder that threatened to slide down her back and tried to divert her attention to the businessman that was screaming at somebody inside his shop.

"I do not appreciate freeloaders so get out." The man had thrown whoever was inside out into a pile of rubbish bins and slammed the door shut.

"Man, what a buzz kill. I was only getting a couple of snacks so I didn't die of hunger."

 _'I recognize that voice.'_

"Luffy, is that you?" Lucy asked hesitantly. The world she was now in was so big and the chances of running into Ace's younger brother were so slim that she almost couldn't believe that it was him but when his neck stretched from his current location on the floor to directly in front of her face, she almost leapt in the air from the joy she was feeling.

He **must** know where Ace is.

"Lucy? What are you doing out here all alone? Where's Ace?"

Her good mood instantly deflated and she had to stop herself from tumbling to the floor in a heap. Of course her luck couldn't be that good, that would have just been too easy wouldn't it?

Before Luffy could utter another word, Natsu came barreling across the street with flaming fists and a seriously peeved off face.

Luffy's eyes locked onto Natsu's hands and the flames that were trailing from them. His expression was one of pure confusion and was stupidly adorable.

"That looks like Ace's devil fruit power but last time I saw him, he definitely hadn't dyed his hair-" Squinting in the darkness, Luffy tried to distinguish what color Natsu's hair was and once he had, his mouth flew open and a huge guffaw fell from his lips.

"Pink!" Luffy exclaimed and keeled over in a fit of laughter, like he'd never witnessed something so ridiculous in his life. Once he had made it to Lucy's side, Natsu tilted his head to the side and gestured towards the hysterical kid at their feet.

"What's up with him?" She wasn't used to Natsu being the mature one in the group, it was abnormal but Luffy was definitely how she imagined a younger Natsu to be.

She was eternally grateful that she hadn't had to deal with him in his terrible teenage years, she'd heard stories from Dadan of how Luffy had been growing up and shuddered at the thought.

"You're not Ace though, but you have the exact same power as him?" Luffy was wiping away the unshed tears left in his eyes and stared at Natsu curiously. Being compared to someone else was something that he obviously didn't appreciate and began to spout fire from his mouth in all directions.

"Can he do this?" Giggling, Luffy grasped his hat and ducked under the flames that spewed from Natsu's idiotic mouth. Soon, people began to fly out from the buildings around them, extremely unhappy at being woken up by an inferno happening outside their windows.

After grabbing both of them, Lucy dragged them away from the angry mob and somehow made it safely back on board the Spade Pirates ship. Luffy ran on board and began eagerly searching for something. "Where's everybody? Why were you asking for Ace, did you lose him in town?"

Pulling a pained face, Lucy rushed over to his side and tried to still the excitable boy.

"A lot's happened since I last saw you Luffy. I lost Ace, he and his whole crew have gone missing. The only information I have is from a giant fish who told me to look for Whitebeard."

She really wished that she could have ignored the pale undertone that had taken over Luffy's face. He wasn't a seasoned pirate by any means but he knew who to look out for and who was dangerous.

Choosing her words carefully, she tried to question some more. "Do you know who Whitebeard is Luffy? Where can I find him?" Shaking his head, the color had now returned to his face and he was smiling. No. **Grinning**.

"Dammit Ace, what have you gotten yourself into." He more mumbled it to himself than anything and shook his head slowly.

Luffy's arms stretched past Lucy's body and threw something on board the deck.

"Poor guy's been cowering at the bottom of the docks since we got here, does he get sea sick or something?" Shaking her head, she glanced backwards at Natsu's now frail form and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, something like that."

Making their way to the rooms lower on the deck, Luffy quickly made himself at home and began scoffing any food that was edible. Lucy welcomed it if anything, it was only going to go to waste if he didn't eat it. She didn't have time to waste eating and Natsu was incapable of consuming anything while he was onboard.

"Don't worry about him Lucy." Luffy spoke through a mouthful of some kind of food. "I trust Ace and I know he's safe." She stared at him eagerly, waiting for him to explain how he knew his brother was safe.

"How do you know he's safe? Has he gotten in contact with you?"

Shaking his head, he pointed to his chest. "I can feel it in here. He's absolutely fine. Don't worry, you will find him."

It turned out that Luffy was actually on a mission of his own and couldn't stick around for any longer with her. He had left his home island not long before and was on the search for people to join his pirate crew. Despite the fact that he had no ship.

She wished him the best of luck and waved goodbye. He patted Natsu on the head and walked off, laughing about pink something or other. The kid had something about him, she had no doubt that he was going to get himself a great crew, ship or no ship. He had the air of someone who should be followed.

 _'Maybe he should have waited until he was a bit more mature though.'_

A niggle of worry tickled the back of her mind as Luffy disappeared into the darkness of the night but soon fizzled out and died.

"Good luck Straw Hat."

* * *

"We've been to so many places, why has nobody seen her." Samson was groaning in the background but Ace was beyond listening to his complaints. Yes, they had searched every town they had come across and asked if anybody had seen the so called queen of hearts but had come up with nothing. It was like Lucy had disappeared again.

His heart squeezed painfully at the thought. What if she had been here too long and had been pulled back to her own world again?

 _'No.'_

He mentally scolded himself. He couldn't allow himself to get any negative thoughts. For her sake, he needed to stay positive until the very end.

Until either he found her or he died. She had answered his lifelong question. Should he have been born? Ace was under the impression for a long time that he would never find the answer.

He had the blood of a demon running through his veins, nobody could truly love that could they? But she had helped him come to love himself and in turn, love her too.

Nobody should ever doubt their existence but if they did, his advice to them would be, find true love. It answers every question you have ever had and more.

It truly was an eye opener so now, all he needed to do now was find Lucy and tell her. It was much easier said than done.

"Hey, wait a second." Samson stopped outside a bulletin board that had Pirates wanted posters plastered all over it.

"Maybe we're doing this all wrong. Maybe we should be asking about that?" Ace followed the direction of Samson's finger and raised his eyebrows.

"The sea sick guy? What if he was just in the background by some random coincidence?"

Smacking the side of Ace's head, Samson scowled and jabbed his finger at Lucy's face on the paper. "Did you not listen to a word she used to talk about? She told us that she had an idiotic best friend back in her own land, he had fire powers the same as you and he had-"

"Pink hair." Ace finished. Samson was right, that must be her mysterious best friend. The one she had compared to Luffy because of his immature attitude on life. Lucy and Ace had had an extreme bonding session over comparing the two.

Apparently, Natsu was a danger to himself and everybody else if Lucy left him alone for too long and she always had to keep an eye on him. Just like Ace always had to keep an eye on Luffy to make sure he wasn't causing too much trouble that he knew he would eventually have to clean up.

Had she brought him along intentionally?

 _'No way, she cared too much about him to risk his life like that, he must've snuck along.'_

If he was really the same as Luffy, it would definitely be more believable that he sneakily tagged along when he found out she was leaving for good. Once he found Lucy, Ace would definitely have to keep an eye on that guy until he knew what his intentions were.

He wasn't about to let someone take her away from him, not again.

"We should give it a go, I mean he doesn't look like anybody I've ever seen ever and I've seen a lot of people." Samson ripped the wanted posted off the board and tore out the section with the pink haired male on it.

"Sorry Lucy." He whispered to the left over portion of it and began questioning people around the town. It was astonishing how quickly they got a result.

"Yeah I saw that pink haired freak." A man standing outside of one of the man buildings on the main center of town spat onto the sandy floor and glared at the image.

"Bastard puked all over my stock in my alleyway, ruined four days worth of food. If I see him again he'll-"

"My apologies about your food but can I ask if anybody was with him when you saw him?" The man glared at Samson and stood up straight, showing off his impressive stature.

"What's in it for me?" Quickly running out of patience, Ace shouldered past his friend and pressed his forearm against the man's neck.

Sure, he had a great deal more size on Ace but he didn't have the speed nor the power. Activating his devil fruit power, his fingers began transforming into charged flames that was aiming straight at his eyes.

"Now." Ace said slowly, pressing his forearm even harder against his neck, he stilled the older man's movements and watched as he gazed fearfully at Ace's fingers that were growing ever closer to his eyeballs.

"Do you really need to know what's in it for you? How about your sight?" His Adam's apple bobbed under Ace's forearm and he quickly stuttered out a reply.

"A pretty girl, blonde hair, long legs and a kid, I threw him out because he ate and drunk nonstop and then didn't pay." Releasing his grip, Ace looked over his shoulder at Samson and smiled. "Well done, who knew that an idiot with pink hair would stand out more than Lucy."

"That's him." The shop owner pointed at the opposite side of the street. "That's the kid who didn't pay the bill, he'll know more so leave me alone."

Taking two quick steps back, he slammed the door behind himself and bolted it shut. Clearly, they were not welcome there again.

"Is that Luffy?" Samson let out short chuckle. "Can't mistake his little straw hat."

Ace ran across the opening and launched onto his younger brother. There was no way in hell Luffy got to be reunited with Lucy before he could, was life that cruel? Yanking his hat off, Ace noogied Luffy's head of hair until he begged for mercy.

"How you been kid?" Samson had a huge soft spot for Ace's younger brother and playfully tackled him, ending the assault on Luffy's head.

His dark eyes met Ace's and they both grinned. "You've seen Lucy."

"You just missed her." Luffy's response sunk Ace's heart like a shipwrecked ship.

How many time did this have to happen?

"If you hurry, you'll be no more than a day behind her. North." Ace kissed his brother's head and dragged Samson in the direction of the docks. Finally, they had something to go on.

"I'll see you real soon Luffy!" Ace bellowed over his shoulder.

"Yeah." A deep voice rumbled. "Sooner than you think." Ace and Samson were stopped dead in their tracks by a horde of Marines. They were all stood with their guns aimed at the two pirates.

The captain stood at the front stared down at Ace and laughed. "Did you think two pirates as well known as you would be leaving this place? This island is protected by the Marines you idiot."

In truth, Ace hadn't bothered to check if the islands they had been checking had been occupied by Marines or if they were occupied by enemy pirates. All he cared about was finding Lucy and nobody was getting in his way.

"Don't worry Ace." Luffy's feet along with anothers pattered behind him and stood, ready to face off with the Marines.

"We'll take care of these idiots one last time." Stood at Luffy's side was someone wielding three swords and had murderous intent in his eyes. This guy meant business.

"Will you be okay here Luffy?" Ace pointedly stared at the man standing at his brother's side but Luffy laughed it off and stretched his fist out, knocking almost all of the Marine's guns onto the floor in one fell swoop.

"That answers that. Come on, onwards and upwards." Samson whooped loudly as they managed to slip through the assault and ran back towards the ocean. One step closer to their goal.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N : I was extremely nervous writing this chapter, I hope I have managed to do this story justice. The song I listened to whilst writing this really helped me with some inspiration.**

 **Radwimps - Zen Zen Zense**

 **I feel like it fits as Lucy & Ace's song. **

It had been months since Lucy had used so much of her celestial energy, she wasn't as strong as she once was and couldn't maintain her spirits forms for as long as she'd like to.

After summoning Loke and Virgo on board the ship to help her sail it to the next island, once they had docked it in the nearest port, she could feel her legs shaking from over exertion.

"Princess, you don't look so great." Her lion spirit, now maintaining his form with his own energy scooped her up into his arms and deposited her in a bed on the lower decks for some much needed down time.

And of course, her dreams were full of infernos of fire. She welcomed them. But she knew she couldn't afford to sleep for hours on end like her body was screaming at her for.

One month was not a long time and she was constantly on edge with how fast time was passing her by. Each day pulled that full moon closer, it loomed ominously above her, a constant reminder.

She and Natsu had already been in this land for three days and had gotten no closer to her goal of finding Ace or a devil fruit.

If she managed to find him, he would surely have some idea about the whereabouts of other devil fruits. It was the only hope she had right now and hope was everything.

She couldn't face the fact that if this all fell through, she would probably never see him again.

Her heart was still screaming at her for losing him once, she just knew she wouldn't survive a second time.

Rolling onto her side, she was met with the sight of Natsu's sleeping face. Obviously, at some point in the night he had snuck into the bed with her from his hammock.

This was no shock, he had always snuck into her bed to sleep in the past. She knew that deep down, Natsu was a very lonely person. Being close to another human calmed him like it did her.

Her heart ached when she thought of all the pain he had been through, he had suffered enough. The last thing she wanted was to cause this sweet man more pain.

But she had someone else out there that was just as lonely and twice as hurt. She could soothe his pain and he hers.

Natsu's face suddenly twisted into a mask of pain and short puffs of air came from his lips. Clearly in the midst of an awful nightmare, Lucy wrapped her arms around his torso and rubbed gentle circles in between his shoulder blades.

From past experiences, she had known this approach to work and soon his breathing evened out but a wetness had formed on her neck where Natsu's face was pressed.

"I want you to smile Lucy." His voice was a whisper, a soft murmur. It was his deepest wish.

"I want you to smile too Natsu. You need Fairy Tail and Fairy Tail needs you. When you go home, don't come looking for me again."

His body began to shake as it was wracked with a fresh batch of sobs. He was finally giving up on her, truly.

Only then would he be able to be happy and smile. She was as happy about it as she was devastated.

The era of Lucy Heartfilia from Magnolia was now forever dead.

* * *

"Oi buddy, seen a guy with a cowboy hat and shorts on?" Lucy rolled her eyes at Natsu's abysmal description of Ace at the next island they arrived at. People scowled at him, shrugged his words off or just point blank ignored him.

 _'These people are downright rude.'_

After their night spent together, Natsu seemed like a completely different person, not avoiding Ace in conversations and encouraging their manhunt for him.

With both of them working at full speed to find him now, it couldn't be long before it came to an end and she would be in his arms again.

Then the real mission could begin.

Could she think like that about her captain? Was it too familiar of her? She hoped he'd missed her as much as she had missed him.

"No luck Luce, all these people don't want to talk to me. Maybe you'll get a better success rate." Lucy patted Natsu's shoulder and smiled gratefully at him, he'd tried his best.

"Don't worry Natsu, you did-" Her mouth fell slack as words failed her and she watched with bugged eyes at something in the distance.

Thick black boots, tanned skin, cargo shorts, muscular back and a hat with ridiculous smiling faces on it.

"Lucy." Natsu sounded extremely concerned as he stepped in front of her and examined her face with wide eyes.

"You look like you've seen a ghost, breathe." Her hand reached out past Natsu's head as she tried to speak. To say anything.

"Ace!" Her scream echoed across the busy street, please let it reach him. His hand stilled in it's reach for the handle of a passing business's door.

Turning his body, his eyes peeked from under his hat for the source of such a heart wrenching scream.

Eyes scanning, he glossed over Lucy's tear stained, pale face but then immediately returned.

She watched all the blood leave his face as his eyes locked with hers. Soon, his numb legs began running to her. She could feel herself moving towards him too but it was all a blur.

Before she knew it, she was engulfed in his warmth, suffocated by his scent. The two fell to the floor, their legs refused to hold them up any longer.

The love she felt for him, the feelings deep in her heart, the emotions she'd been fighting to contain broke free with a vengeance and she fought the onslaught of tears that were pushing their way out of her eyes.

Lucy could feel her hands scraping his bare back out of pure desperation to get closer to him, he didn't seem to care.

"You're okay. I've got you." Ace's voice was husky and everything she had dreamed of. She was thankful she hadn't forgotten a single thing about him.

"I missed you so much." The tears escaping her eyes were unforgiving, not allowing her the sight she so desperately wanted. Ace's face.

Pulling away slightly, Ace grasped her chin and without warning, sealed their lips together. It was an aggressive yet soft kiss, full of pent up emotion and it was oh so sweet.

"Do I get a kiss too?" Samson's voice caused a sob to erupt from Lucy's lips and broke the two apart. She could kiss him, she was that happy to see familiar faces. Ace's arms wrapped possessively around her waist, he squeezed tentatively.

"You've lost weight."

This was not a question, Ace was stating a fact that Lucy knew he would notice.

"We've got a lot to talk about." She whispered with a ghost of a smile, her lips were still tingling from their kiss. Did it mean something? Or was he just overwhelmed by their reunion?

Natsu pulled Lucy to her feet and then held out his hand for Ace. The pirate stared at his hand for a few seconds but soon took it, pulled himself up and shook it firmly.

"You must be Natsu, Lucy's told me a lot about you."

Ace nodded towards her slim frame and spoke in a sarcastic tone.

"Nice to see you've been taking care of her while I've been gone."

Growling, the dragon slayer's rage was rolling from his body in thick waves. Soon, his fist had been swallowed in a large flame, which obviously had no effect on Ace as he countered with his own.

The two were in a stalemate but their flames kept gaining height. The temperature was almost unbearable.

"Guys, cut it out. We get it, your dicks are big." Samson diffused the situation with a threat of getting a bucket of dirty fish guts from the fish market opposite them and dressing them in it.

The foursome agreed to retire back to the ship to discuss business. But Lucy couldn't think.

She was with Ace. At long last. And she didn't know what the hell to say to him. They had locked hands once they had started walking, with neither of them having any intention of letting go, ever again.

As soon as they got to the ship, Natsu quickly excused himself, the last thing he wanted was to show Ace his one weakness. Motion sickness.

Lucy knew that he didn't want to appear weak in front of him because Ace was such an imposing figure. He was much larger than Natsu in stature and maturity. She couldn't blame him for feeling insecure around him.

The dragon slayer after all had been the male figure in her life for years, it must be unsettling to see her with someone else.

"I'll come with you pinky, maybe treat you to some food." This caught Natsu's attention and he grinned toothily at the pirate. "You're my kind of guy, what's your name?"

The two disappeared into the distance, their laughter echoing behind them. Samson looked back at the embracing couple and tutted at Natsu.

"Isn't the end of missing someone just a beautiful thing to be able to witness?"

* * *

"Lucy." Ace sounded dangerous as he spoke her name. "Shall we go inside?" She allowed him to pull her by their conjoined hands until they reached his bedroom. No. Their bedroom.

The two landed in a heap on the bed, simply holding each other. Their breathing was in sync as they took in each other's appearance. Ace looked so different yet completely the same.

Her hand trailed down his muscular back and tickled the huge area of skin that was now covered with an unfamiliar tattoo.

"What's this?" He nuzzled the side of her neck and sighed.

"I'm a member of the Whitebeard pirates now princess, you will be too."

She let out a giggle and placed his large hand on her midriff.

"What will I do with this little piece of art then? I heard from a little fish that the Spade Pirates are no more. I hope they are all safe?"

Ace's face twisted in confusion at the little fish comment but relaxed when she mentioned how she had run into Jinbei and that was how she had come across the Spade's pirate ship.

"We were one step apart all this time weren't we."

Ace's voice was so soft and his touch so gentle, as if he were afraid she would simply disappear from touching her.

"I'm going to stay this time."

Her voice was firm but she couldn't miss the slight quiver of his bottom lip at her words, he'd heard them before after all.

"How can you know that? Lucy, you just disappeared into thin air. I thought I was going to go crazy without you."

His eyes were distressed as they examined her, it were as if he were trying to paint an image of her in his brain so he could never forget her.

"I don't understand these feelings, it's unlike anything I've ever experienced. I don't know what to do."

Ace's voice cracked from the sheer emotion he was being taken over with. It was proof of the love he was feeling for her. She didn't need him to say it, she could sense it radiating off him.

It was wonderful.

"Me too Ace. Me too."

* * *

After spending hours simply holding each other, Lucy's eyes twinkled. "Hey captain, what would you say if I told you the way I can stay here is if I eat a devil fruit?"

Ace leant on one of his arms and grinned down at her. "I'd say let's go get a motherfucking devil fruit princess."


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N : Back after a short while, my apologies! I absolutely love writing this story and it's characters so I never want to write a chapter if I'm not completely immersed in the story and as of late, I haven't been. Real life has been hectic, as some of you may know, working in retail at Christmas is a nightmare!**

 **But I feel rejuvenated now and am back with chapter eighteen, I hope you all enjoy it.**

"Are you sure it's alright for us to waste precious time like this?" Lucy tried and failed to keep a straight face as Ace ordered drink after drink for the four of them to enjoy. Natsu gladly accepted them as he continued to stuff his face with an assortment of foreign foods that did not exist in Fiore. His tanned cheeks were smeared with some kind of sticky sauce and flakes of some pastry amongst other things had been flicked into his wild hair. Even though he looked disheveled and messy, Lucy couldn't deny the fact that he despite all that, he looked happy. Happier than she had seen him since she had returned to his side.

The thought that it was her that was causing his misery was gut wrenching, she could only hope that once their time was up and he returned to Magnolia and to Fairy Tail that she would be nothing but a fond memory of his. So after one last dubious glance at the drink that Ace had pushed under her nose, she lifted it up to her lips, said so long to her worries and poured it down her throat in the hopes that the four of them would be able to have lots of fun together before their time was up and the sun set on the peaceful days they could spend together. The feeling of impending doom was heavy on their shoulders but for tonight, she would shrug it off and worry about it tomorrow.

Ace seemed to sense the change in Lucy's mood and smiled widely at her. She raised her glass up in a silent toast and said her thanks for being blessed with such wonderful friends. Her caramel colored eyes stared over the rim of her drink and admired the heavy alcohol induced blush that had settled on Ace's freckled covered cheeks. He really was devilishly handsome, that would be the only way she could describe him. Samson's gaze lifted from his plate of food to an approaching pair of women who were eyeing Ace's drunken posture and his eyes narrowed.

"Hey Luce, go mark your territory." Her mouth fell open at his rudeness but instead of a horrified gasp, a drunken giggle came out instead. Clearly, her regular self would have been horrified at such a vulgar suggestion, but when she had liquid courage flowing through her veins she found it hilarious. Before her brain could catch up on what she was doing, she had climbed up onto the wooden tabletop, instantly gaining the attention of everybody in the room.

Some stared because of the clatter of tableware that fell over as she crawled across the surface, while others openly gawked because of the way her dress had rode up her body, exposing her tanned upper thighs for anybody to see and fantasize about. However, the one man in question who she was actually aiming for was yet to see her approach and was still trying to dismiss the two vultures that had made their way to his side.

"You're the fire fist aren't you? Want to come and have some fun with us?" One said breathlessly, sounding almost like an asthmatic, while the only was trying to sound sexy by adding a weirdly husky tone to her unnaturally high pitched voice. The result was extremely unpleasant, enough so that it caused Natsu's attention to be pulled away from his somehow growing pile of food as he started at her, confusion etched on his features. "Are you sick? Your voice is grating on my ears."

It was painful for Lucy to hear, let alone Natsu with his powerful dragon slayer senses. With their attention now diverted, Lucy took the opportunity to make the rest of the way over the table in one fell swoop and launched herself onto Ace's lap. He let out a loud oomph but his arms instinctively wrapped around her small waist. They gripped harder once they realized who it was that was wrapped around him like a snake.

"I thought you could use the company so here I am." Ace chuckled and slid Lucy's body to the side so she was no longer straddling him but so she was facing the two women that had so rudely barged over to their table. Ace pointed at Lucy with a flaming finger which he quickly extinguished. Clearly he was like Natsu in that sense and he lost control of his magical powers when he had some drinks.

"You see this little vixen here? She's mine." Samson was in hysterics as he watched Ace continue to make a fool out of himself while Natsu was simply gazing at the him as he continued to litter Lucy with compliments.

"You two couldn't ever hold a flame to her, I mean come on." His fingers lifted the edge of Lucy's dress up ever so slightly to reveal the garter on her left thigh that was adorned with her metal plated whip and her celestial keys. "She's sexy and she has a whip."

"Yeah, which she'll probably be using on you later." Samson piped in again before his voice disappeared in another fit of drunken giggles. The two girls, with their fun very much ruined began mumbling to each other with sour looks on their faces as they disappeared out of the bar, probably in search of another easy target to seduce. Sadly for them, this pirate had already been taken.

"You can let go of my thigh now." Lucy mumbled as she pressed her face into Ace's neck, to which he responded with a gentle squeeze of her leg. "Oh can I now?"

Natsu decided this was the perfect time to call it a night and recommended that the two of them do the same. Walking on unsteady legs, the three of them made their way into the cool night and was met with the sight of their fourth companion, urinating in the street. Samson, without a care in the world looked up at them with a crooked smile on his face.

The three stared at his exposed member and all mumbled the same word. "Small."

After noticing that his audience was growing bigger as more people emerged from the doorway, Samson shook himself off and joined them without another word. Clearly he wasn't embarrassed about being exposed, but if he would of been worried about being seen he wouldn't have been doing it so out in the open in the first place. The walk to the boat was long and laughter filled. Once they made it on board their docked ship, Natsu and Samson crawled into two hammocks adjacent to each other.

Lucy watched them curiously with Ace stood behind her, waiting. Clearly Samson was asking about Natsu's magic as the dragon slayer began to spew small flames from his mouth. Launching herself forward, she pulled Natsu out of his hammock and the two landed in a heap on the floor. With smiling eyes, Natsu stared at Lucy's face like she were the most precious thing in the world.

"This feels familiar huh? I'm sorry for always sneaking into your bed."

Taken aback slightly, Ace was about to step in but stopped when he saw the tears dripping from her wide eyes. He could see her lips quiver as she struggled to speak. "I liked it. It made me feel less lonely waking up to you and Happy next to me."

"I'll miss your morning punches." Natsu's hands were balled tightly in Lucy's blonde hair as he tried not to let his emotions get the better of him and Ace was in awe. At the bond the two of them shared, it was pure love of friendship, which could have possibly of turned into something more if all of these events hadn't of happened. He couldn't feel guilty for being part of the reason why Lucy had decided to not remain in her own world but he could sympathize with the pain he was feeling. Ace had felt what it was like to lose Lucy.

He wouldn't wish that pain on anybody but if it meant he could keep her for himself, it was selfish but he would steal her away every single time. After speaking soft words to each other for several more moments, the two broke away, their smiles tear stained.

"Goodnight Natsu." Ace nodded at the brave dragon slayer, and with a laugh at the unconscious form of Samson, disappeared down the corridor with Lucy leading the way. His eyes were locked on the sway of her hips as she walked in front of him. They reached their room far too soon for his liking, but once they did, it was like a demon had possessed her. She planted her hands on Ace's chest and pushed firmly. He landed on the bed with a soft thud and stared wide eyed as she began to seductively tease her dress straps off, one shoulder at a time.

She was agonizingly slow, so much in fact that by the time she was moving onto the second one, he felt himself lurching upwards to give her a helping hand but his fingers were numb from all the alcohol he had ingested that he couldn't get a grip on the flimsy piece of material and just kept slipping on her silky smooth skin. Abandoning his attack on the straps, he left her to finish the removal of the annoying piece of material and once it was flung to the floor, she innocently pressed herself against his body and let out a breathy sigh.

"Did you miss me Ace? Did you hate the fact that I might not return?" He couldn't speak through the lump in his throat but nodded his head instead. Sighing again, she reached down for the throw at the end of the bed, covered the two of them and smiled against his muscular chest. "Me too."

* * *

A hungover crew was no crew at all apparently. The four of them were dead on their feet the following day but felt surprisingly rejuvenated. Upon summoning Loke and Virgo to ask for their assistance, she immediately regretted her decision as the two loomed over Ace like two angels of death as they stared him down. Pulling his hat off, he respectively bowed to the two celestial spirits.

"Thank you for your assistance in sailing this ship."

The two spirits stared at Ace, then at each other and nodded. He had obviously gained their approval but keeping it was another thing. Lucy sent a thumbs up Ace's way as she walked across the ship, now that they were in motion again, Natsu was slumped in his regular corner, spew bucket in hand. As she walked past him, she placed a cold bottle of water in his open fist and ruffled his spiky hair. He made a sound of thanks as Lucy continued past him and elbowed Samson's stomach.

"Have you been looking after him for me?" The two glanced at Ace as he chatted with Loke, they seemed to be having a friendly discussion but looks could be deceiving. "Of course princess, we went through some rough patches but everything seems to have worked out." Lucy didn't ask what the rough matters were, she assumed Ace would tell her when he was ready. "So where are we heading? You guys just blurted some coordinated to Virgo without any hint as to what's waiting for us there."

This seemed to amuse Samson, his eyes were sparkling with humor as he gestured towards Ace's bare back, the tattoo that spanned the entirety of it was smiling at her. "We're going to see the captain, Whitebeard."

Her nerves obviously showed on her face because Samson pulled a reassuring look. "Don't worry, he's going to love you. Ace talks about you non stop."

"Yeah okay, you talk too much Sam." Ace had appeared at their side and was shoving his friend away from Lucy's side before he could embarrass him any further. Reaching up to behind his neck, Lucy pulled Ace's face down to hers and pressed a gentle kiss against his lips, they were warm and salty from the sea water. After reluctantly pulling away, she was surprised to see Ace blushing. In an attempt to hide his embarrassment, he pulled her tightly against his body and held her there.

"You're going to kill me one day princess."


End file.
